Special Education Teachers, Middle School in Illinois
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$57,848
after federal, FICA and Illinois tax
Tax takes
$16,882
22.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$58,518
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
$74,730
Kept after tax
$57,848
Worth in national money
$58,518
State rank
16
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Illinois is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $74,730, which ranks 16 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 11.85% above the national middle.
- Against other work in Illinois, this sits in the middle: 183 of 494 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- No great distortion either way. Illinois costs about what the country costs, so from $74,730, take-home of $57,848 is worth roughly $58,518 in national money. The average comes to $75,300, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Illinois ranks 16 of 51 states publishing a median for special education teachers, middle school, at $74,730 — about 11.85% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Special education teachers, middle school ranks 183 of 494 occupations in Illinois by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Price parity in Illinois is near the national base, so for special education teachers, middle school, whose median is $74,730, the adjusted figure of $58,518 differs little from $57,848 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $75,300 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Special Education Teachers, Middle School
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $49,660 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $74,730 |
| Top tenth earn over | $102,200 |
| This salary | $74,730 |
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 | $57,848 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $61,403 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,669 |
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 | $69,678 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,450 |
| 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 $74,730. The published range is $49,660 up to $102,200, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $57,848 take-home in Illinois comes from $74,730. 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 183 of 494.
- Two cautions on $58,518, the adjusted value of that $74,730 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Illinois. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 183 of 494 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for special education teachers, middle school in Illinois the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $49,660 to $102,200. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $57,848, from $74,730, 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 183 of 494 locally, and the state ranks 16 of 51 for it.
- This $58,518 adjusted figure, worked from $74,730, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 183 of 494 in the state. The occupation ranks 183 of 494 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $49,660 and the top tenth $102,200, so most people doing this work in Illinois sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $58,518.
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 $57,848 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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($49,660 to $102,200) 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 $58,518 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 $57,848 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.