Shuttle Drivers and Chauffeurs in Illinois

The rear seat of a car in the evening, the driver ahead and lit streets passing.

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$30,668

after federal, FICA and Illinois tax

Tax takes

$6,922

18.4% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$31,023

Illinois costs less than average

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

$37,590

Kept after tax

$30,668

Worth in national money

$31,023

State rank

18

of 51 states

What this pays, and what it is worth

  • Illinois sits in the middle of the pack for shuttle drivers and chauffeurs. The median is $37,590, ranking 18 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
  • Measured against other jobs in Illinois, this one sits low: 447 of 494 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
  • Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $37,590 the take-home is $30,668, which is worth about $31,023 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $41,970, because the best-paid pull it up.
  • Illinois occupies the middle band for shuttle drivers and chauffeurs: a median of $37,590, ranking 18 of 51. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
  • Shuttle drivers and chauffeurs occupies position 447 of 494 in Illinois's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
  • Illinois's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for shuttle drivers and chauffeurs on its $37,590 median: $30,668 retained after tax becomes $31,023 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $41,970 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.

Compare this career across states

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Pay band: Shuttle Drivers and Chauffeurs

The state median for this job

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$32,740
Half earn under$37,590
Top tenth earn over$58,430
This salary$37,590

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

Compare with
+$1,716take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in Illinois$30,668
Take-home in Texas$32,384
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity+$2,302

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

Moving to
$0now · $37,590$34,806
$34,806in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$35,454
You could take a cut of−$2,784
Prices in Texas97 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 $37,590. The published range is $32,740 up to $58,430, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
  • One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Illinois's $30,668, worked from $37,590. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 447 of 494.
  • The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $31,023 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 447.
  • Reported values are medians; for shuttle drivers and chauffeurs in Illinois the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $32,740 to $58,430. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
  • The Illinois take-home of $30,668, on $37,590 for work ranking 447 of 494 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 447 of 494 in the state.
  • Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $31,023, worked from $37,590, 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 447 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 $41,970, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.

How much does pay for this job actually vary?

The range here is narrow. From $32,740 at the bottom tenth to $58,430 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.

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 $31,023.

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 $30,668 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 $41,970. 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 ($32,740 to $58,430) 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 $31,023 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 $30,668 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.