Refuse and Recyclable Material Collectors in Illinois
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$58,057
after federal, FICA and Illinois tax
Tax takes
$16,993
22.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$58,730
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
$75,050
Kept after tax
$58,057
Worth in national money
$58,730
State rank
1
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Illinois's middle earner gets $75,050, putting the state 1 of 51 — about 51.04% ahead of the national figure.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 180 among 494 occupations Illinois publishes pay for.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $75,050, tax leaves $58,057, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $58,730 in comparable terms. Here the average runs under the middle, at $68,310.
- For refuse and recyclable material collectors, Illinois sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $75,050, ranking 1 of 51 and running about 51.04% 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.
- Position 180 of 494 in Illinois places refuse and recyclable material collectors 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 refuse and recyclable material collectors — median $75,050 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $58,057 retained, $58,730 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $68,310 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Refuse and Recyclable Material Collectors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $38,790 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $75,050 |
| Top tenth earn over | $88,640 |
| This salary | $75,050 |
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 | $58,057 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $61,628 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,689 |
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 | $69,975 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,477 |
| 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 $75,050. The published range is $38,790 up to $88,640, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Illinois the take-home figure of $58,057, from $75,050, 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 180 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 $58,730 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 180.
- Reported values are medians; for refuse and recyclable material collectors in Illinois the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $38,790 to $88,640. 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 $58,057 from $75,050. 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 180 of 494 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $58,730, worked from $75,050, 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 180 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 $68,310 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $38,790 at the tenth percentile, $88,640 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 $58,730 in national terms.
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, $58,057 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 $68,310. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($38,790 to $88,640) 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 $58,730 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 $58,057 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.