Social Workers, All Other in Illinois
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$50,603
after federal, FICA and Illinois tax
Tax takes
$13,427
21.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$51,190
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
$64,030
Kept after tax
$50,603
Worth in national money
$51,190
State rank
36
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for social workers, all other is on the low side in Illinois. The middle earner gets $64,030. That is 36 of 50 states, and about 10.95% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Social workers, all other ranks 224 among 494 occupations Illinois publishes pay for.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $64,030, tax leaves $50,603, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $51,190 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $72,410, since top earners drag the number up.
- For social workers, all other, Illinois sits in the lower band at $64,030, ranking 36 of 50 and trailing the national median by about 10.95%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Position 224 of 494 in Illinois places social workers, all other 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 social workers, all other — median $64,030 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $50,603 retained, $51,190 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $72,410 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Social Workers, All Other
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $45,460 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $64,030 |
| Top tenth earn over | $111,320 |
| This salary | $64,030 |
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 | $50,603 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $53,628 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,998 |
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 | $60,266 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,835 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 99 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $64,030 as a midpoint for Illinois, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $45,460 and the ninetieth is $111,320 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $50,603 take-home in Illinois comes from $64,030. 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 224 of 494.
- One number stands for prices across all of Illinois, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $51,190, the adjusted value of that $64,030 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 224 of 494 in the state.
- The Illinois median of $64,030 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $45,460 to $111,320. 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 $50,603, from $64,030, 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 224 of 494 locally, and the state ranks 36 of 50 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Illinois, so $51,190 — the adjusted value of that $64,030 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 224 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 $72,410, 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 $45,460 at the bottom tenth to $111,320 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 $51,190 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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, $50,603 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 $72,410. 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 ($45,460) and the ninetieth ($111,320) 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 $51,190 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 $50,603 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.