Public Relations Specialists in Illinois
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$58,927
after federal, FICA and Illinois tax
Tax takes
$17,453
22.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$59,610
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
$76,380
Kept after tax
$58,927
Worth in national money
$59,610
State rank
12
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Illinois pays public relations specialists a middle wage of $76,380, ranking 12 of 51 states and sitting about 2.18% above the national middle.
- Against other work in Illinois, this sits in the middle: 171 of 494 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $76,380 the take-home is $58,927, which is worth about $59,610 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $86,060, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Illinois's median for public relations specialists is $76,380, about 2.18% above the national figure and 12 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Public relations specialists ranks 171 of 494 occupations in Illinois by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Illinois's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for public relations specialists on its $76,380 median: $58,927 retained after tax becomes $59,610 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $86,060 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Public Relations Specialists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $47,690 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $76,380 |
| Top tenth earn over | $139,570 |
| This salary | $76,380 |
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 | $58,927 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $62,563 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,772 |
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 | $71,212 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,592 |
| 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 public relations specialists in Illinois earn under $76,380 and half over. The published range runs $47,690 at the tenth percentile to $139,570 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $58,927 take-home in Illinois comes from $76,380. 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 171 of 494.
- One number stands for prices across all of Illinois, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $59,610, the adjusted value of that $76,380 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 171 of 494 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for public relations specialists in Illinois, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $47,690 to $139,570; 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 $58,927, from $76,380, 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 171 of 494 locally, and the state ranks 12 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Illinois, so $59,610 — the adjusted value of that $76,380 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 171 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 $86,060, 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 $47,690, the highest tenth $139,570, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $59,610.
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, $58,927 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 $86,060. 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 ($47,690) and the ninetieth ($139,570) 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 $59,610 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 $58,927 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.