Operations Research Analysts in Illinois
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$67,704
after federal, FICA and Illinois tax
Tax takes
$22,096
24.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$68,488
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
$89,800
Kept after tax
$67,704
Worth in national money
$68,488
State rank
24
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Illinois pays operations research analysts around $89,800 at the midpoint, 24 of 47 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 494 occupations Illinois reports, operations research analysts comes in at 107 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $89,800, tax leaves $67,704, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $68,488 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $104,580, since top earners drag the number up.
- For operations research analysts the Illinois median is $89,800, ranking 24 of 47 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Operations research analysts ranks 107 of 494 occupations by median in Illinois, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- Because Illinois sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for operations research analysts — median $89,800 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $67,704 retained, $68,488 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $104,580 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Operations Research Analysts
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $62,500 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $89,800 |
| Top tenth earn over | $164,990 |
| This salary | $89,800 |
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 | $67,704 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $72,004 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,609 |
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 | $83,687 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$7,748 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 99 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of operations research analysts in Illinois earn under $89,800 and half over. The published range runs $62,500 at the tenth percentile to $164,990 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $67,704 take-home in Illinois comes from $89,800. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 107 of 494.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $68,488 uses one figure for the whole of Illinois. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 494 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 107.
- Figures are distribution medians for operations research analysts in Illinois, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $62,500 to $164,990; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Retained pay of $67,704, from $89,800, assumes a single Illinois filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 107 of 494 locally, and the state ranks 24 of 47 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $68,488, worked from $89,800, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Illinois address, on work sitting at 107 of 494 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $104,580 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $62,500 at the bottom tenth to $164,990 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Illinois sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $68,488 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Illinois then takes its own share, leaving $67,704.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 47 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
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 $104,580. 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 ($62,500) and the ninetieth ($164,990) 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 $68,488 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 $67,704 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.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 47 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.