Software Developers in Illinois
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$95,169
after federal, FICA and Illinois tax
Tax takes
$36,941
28.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$96,271
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
$132,110
Kept after tax
$95,169
Worth in national money
$96,271
State rank
16
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for software developers is strong here. Illinois's middle earner gets $132,110, putting the state 16 of 50 — about 2.85% ahead of the national figure.
- Within Illinois this is well-paid work. Of 494 occupations with published figures in the state, software developers ranks 25 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $132,110 the take-home is $95,169, which is worth about $96,271 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $136,540, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For software developers, Illinois sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $132,110, ranking 16 of 50 and running about 2.85% 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, software developers sits 25 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 software developers on its $132,110 median: $95,169 retained after tax becomes $96,271 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $136,540 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Software Developers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $80,980 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $132,110 |
| Top tenth earn over | $194,740 |
| This salary | $132,110 |
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 | $95,169 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $101,563 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$8,245 |
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 | $122,754 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$11,682 |
| 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 $132,110. The published range is $80,980 up to $194,740, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $95,169 take-home in Illinois comes from $132,110. 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 25 of 494.
- One number stands for prices across all of Illinois, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $96,271, the adjusted value of that $132,110 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 25 of 494 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for software developers in Illinois the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $80,980 to $194,740. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $95,169, from $132,110, 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 25 of 494 locally, and the state ranks 16 of 50 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Illinois, so $96,271 — the adjusted value of that $132,110 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 25 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 $136,540 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $80,980 and the top tenth $194,740 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $96,271 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 $95,169.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
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 $136,540. 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 ($80,980) and the ninetieth ($194,740) 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 $96,271 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 $95,169 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.