Project Management Specialists in Illinois
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$76,644
after federal, FICA and Illinois tax
Tax takes
$26,826
25.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$77,532
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
$103,470
Kept after tax
$76,644
Worth in national money
$77,532
State rank
15
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for project management specialists is strong here. Illinois's middle earner gets $103,470, putting the state 15 of 51 — about 1.12% ahead of the national figure.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Illinois. It ranks 68 out of 494 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $103,470 the take-home is $76,644, which is worth about $77,532 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $111,230, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For project management specialists, Illinois sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $103,470, ranking 15 of 51 and running about 1.12% 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.
- Within Illinois, project management specialists ranks 68 of 494 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Illinois's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for project management specialists on its $103,470 median: $76,644 retained after tax becomes $77,532 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $111,230 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Project Management Specialists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $65,300 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $103,470 |
| Top tenth earn over | $163,910 |
| This salary | $103,470 |
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 | $76,644 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $81,621 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$6,462 |
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 | $96,395 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$8,926 |
| 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 $103,470. The published range is $65,300 up to $163,910, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Illinois the take-home figure of $76,644, from $103,470, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 68 of 494 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $77,532 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 68.
- Reported values are medians; for project management specialists in Illinois the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $65,300 to $163,910. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Illinois is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $76,644 from $103,470. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 68 of 494 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $77,532, worked from $103,470, 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 68 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 $111,230, 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?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $65,300, the highest tenth $163,910, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $77,532 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 $76,644 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.
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 $111,230. 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 ($65,300) and the ninetieth ($163,910) 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 $77,532 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 $76,644 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.