Probation Officers and Correctional Treatment Specialists in Illinois
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$57,626
after federal, FICA and Illinois tax
Tax takes
$16,764
22.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$58,293
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
$74,390
Kept after tax
$57,626
Worth in national money
$58,293
State rank
16
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Illinois sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $74,390, ranking 16 of 46 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 184 among 494 occupations Illinois publishes pay for.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $74,390, tax leaves $57,626, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $58,293 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $78,380, since top earners drag the number up.
- Illinois occupies the middle band for probation officers and correctional treatment specialists: a median of $74,390, ranking 16 of 46. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Position 184 of 494 in Illinois places probation officers and correctional treatment specialists in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Because Illinois sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for probation officers and correctional treatment specialists — median $74,390 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $57,626 retained, $58,293 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $78,380 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Probation Officers and Correctional Treatment Specialists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $49,330 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $74,390 |
| Top tenth earn over | $107,710 |
| This salary | $74,390 |
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 | $57,626 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $61,163 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,648 |
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 | $69,362 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,421 |
| 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 probation officers and correctional treatment specialists in Illinois earn under $74,390 and half over. The published range runs $49,330 at the tenth percentile to $107,710 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Illinois's $57,626, worked from $74,390. 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 184 of 494.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $58,293 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 184.
- Figures are distribution medians for probation officers and correctional treatment specialists in Illinois, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $49,330 to $107,710; 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.
- The Illinois take-home of $57,626, on $74,390 for work ranking 184 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 184 of 494 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $58,293, worked from $74,390, 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 184 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 $78,380 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?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $49,330 and the top tenth $107,710 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $58,293.
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 $57,626 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 46 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $78,380. 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 ($49,330) and the ninetieth ($107,710) 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 $58,293 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 $57,626 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 46 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.