Sheet Metal Workers in Illinois
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$65,631
after federal, FICA and Illinois tax
Tax takes
$20,999
24.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$66,391
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
$86,630
Kept after tax
$65,631
Worth in national money
$66,391
State rank
5
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for sheet metal workers is strong here. Illinois's middle earner gets $86,630, putting the state 5 of 50 — about 40.18% ahead of the national figure.
- Within Illinois this is well-paid work. Of 494 occupations with published figures in the state, sheet metal workers ranks 111 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $86,630 the take-home is $65,631, which is worth about $66,391 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is lower, $81,960, so pay clusters nearer the top than usual.
- For sheet metal workers, Illinois sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $86,630, ranking 5 of 50 and running about 40.18% 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.
- Ranked against every occupation Illinois publishes a median for, sheet metal workers sits 111 of 494 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- Illinois's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for sheet metal workers on its $86,630 median: $65,631 retained after tax becomes $66,391 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $81,960 falls below the median, a left skew that is uncommon in wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Sheet Metal Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $42,220 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $86,630 |
| Top tenth earn over | $117,910 |
| This salary | $86,630 |
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 | $65,631 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $69,774 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,412 |
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 | $80,740 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$7,475 |
| 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 sheet metal workers in Illinois earn under $86,630 and half over. The published range runs $42,220 at the tenth percentile to $117,910 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Illinois the take-home figure of $65,631, from $86,630, 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 111 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 $66,391 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 111.
- Figures are distribution medians for sheet metal workers in Illinois, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $42,220 to $117,910; 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.
- Take-home for Illinois is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $65,631 from $86,630. 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 111 of 494 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $66,391, worked from $86,630, 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 111 of 494 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $81,960, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $42,220 and the top tenth $117,910 — 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 $66,391.
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, $65,631 remains.
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 50 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 $81,960. 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 ($42,220) and the ninetieth ($117,910) 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 $66,391 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 $65,631 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.