Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators in Illinois
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$72,897
after federal, FICA and Illinois tax
Tax takes
$24,843
25.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$73,741
Illinois costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Illinois — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$97,740
Kept after tax
$72,897
Worth in national money
$73,741
State rank
2
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Illinois's middle earner gets $97,740, putting the state 2 of 51 — about 63.31% ahead of the national figure.
- Within Illinois this is well-paid work. Of 494 occupations with published figures in the state, this job ranks 91 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $97,740, tax leaves $72,897, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $73,741 in comparable terms. Here the average runs under the middle, at $90,500.
- For operating engineers and other construction equipment operators, Illinois sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $97,740, ranking 2 of 51 and running about 63.31% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Ranked against every occupation Illinois publishes a median for, operating engineers and other construction equipment operators sits 91 of 494 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- Because Illinois sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for operating engineers and other construction equipment operators — median $97,740 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $72,897 retained, $73,741 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $90,500 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $49,770 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $97,740 |
| Top tenth earn over | $123,330 |
| This salary | $97,740 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Illinois | $72,897 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $77,590 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$6,105 |
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $91,069 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$8,432 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 99 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $97,740 as a midpoint for Illinois, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $49,770 and the ninetieth is $123,330 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Illinois's $72,897, worked from $97,740. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 91 of 494.
- Two cautions on $73,741, the adjusted value of that $97,740 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Illinois. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 91 of 494 locally.
- The Illinois median of $97,740 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $49,770 to $123,330. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Illinois take-home of $72,897, on $97,740 for work ranking 91 of 494 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 91 of 494 in the state.
- This $73,741 adjusted figure, worked from $97,740, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 91 of 494 in the state. The occupation ranks 91 of 494 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $90,500, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $49,770 at the bottom tenth to $123,330 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $73,741.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Illinois's own levy, $72,897 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in Illinois is $90,500. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($49,770) and the ninetieth ($123,330) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Illinois's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $73,741 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $72,897 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Illinois income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.