Septic Tank Servicers and Sewer Pipe Cleaners in Illinois
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$42,430
after federal, FICA and Illinois tax
Tax takes
$10,760
20.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$42,921
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
$53,190
Kept after tax
$42,430
Worth in national money
$42,921
State rank
17
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Illinois pays this job around $53,190 at the midpoint, 17 of 49 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 494 occupations Illinois reports figures for, this is number 307.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $53,190, tax leaves $42,430, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $42,921 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $57,230, since top earners drag the number up.
- For septic tank servicers and sewer pipe cleaners the Illinois median is $53,190, ranking 17 of 49 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- In Illinois's occupational distribution, septic tank servicers and sewer pipe cleaners sits at 307 of 494 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Because Illinois sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for septic tank servicers and sewer pipe cleaners — median $53,190 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $42,430 retained, $42,921 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $57,230 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Septic Tank Servicers and Sewer Pipe Cleaners
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $35,380 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $53,190 |
| Top tenth earn over | $81,390 |
| This salary | $53,190 |
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 | $42,430 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $44,918 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,303 |
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 | $50,093 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,994 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 99 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $53,190 as a midpoint for Illinois, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $35,380 and the ninetieth is $81,390 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $42,430 take-home in Illinois comes from $53,190. 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 307 of 494.
- One number stands for prices across all of Illinois, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $42,921, the adjusted value of that $53,190 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 307 of 494 in the state.
- The Illinois median of $53,190 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $35,380 to $81,390. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $42,430, from $53,190, 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 307 of 494 locally, and the state ranks 17 of 49 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Illinois, so $42,921 — the adjusted value of that $53,190 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 307 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 $57,230, 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?
The label is broader than the work. From $35,380 at the bottom tenth to $81,390 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $42,921 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Illinois then takes its own share, leaving $42,430.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 49 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $57,230. 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 ($35,380) and the ninetieth ($81,390) 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 $42,921 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 $42,430 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.