Optometrists in Illinois
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$103,734
after federal, FICA and Illinois tax
Tax takes
$41,886
28.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$104,935
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
$145,620
Kept after tax
$103,734
Worth in national money
$104,935
State rank
16
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Illinois is one of the better-paying states for optometrists. The middle earner takes $145,620, which ranks 16 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 6.63% above the national middle.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 494 occupations Illinois reports, optometrists comes in at 16 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $145,620 the take-home is $103,734, which is worth about $104,935 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is lower, $143,720, so pay clusters nearer the top than usual.
- Illinois ranks 16 of 51 states publishing a median for optometrists, at $145,620 — about 6.63% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Optometrists ranks 16 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.
- Illinois's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for optometrists on its $145,620 median: $103,734 retained after tax becomes $104,935 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $143,720 falls below the median, a left skew that is uncommon in wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Optometrists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $93,350 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $145,620 |
| Top tenth earn over | $190,620 |
| This salary | $145,620 |
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 | $103,734 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $110,797 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$9,083 |
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 | $135,286 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$12,913 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 99 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Illinois earn less than $145,620. The published range is $93,350 up to $190,620, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Illinois's $103,734, worked from $145,620. 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 16 of 494.
- Two cautions on $104,935, the adjusted value of that $145,620 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 16 of 494 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for optometrists in Illinois the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $93,350 to $190,620. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Illinois take-home of $103,734, on $145,620 for work ranking 16 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 16 of 494 in the state.
- This $104,935 adjusted figure, worked from $145,620, 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 16 of 494 in the state. The occupation ranks 16 of 494 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $93,350 at the tenth percentile, $190,620 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Illinois is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $104,935 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Illinois adds its own income tax on top — which is why $103,734 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($93,350 to $190,620) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Illinois rather than a national figure.
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 $104,935 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 $103,734 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.