Stationary Engineers and Boiler Operators in Illinois
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$84,695
after federal, FICA and Illinois tax
Tax takes
$31,085
26.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$85,676
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
$115,780
Kept after tax
$84,695
Worth in national money
$85,676
State rank
1
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Illinois pays this job a middle wage of $115,780, ranking 1 of 51 states and sitting about 47.27% above the national middle.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 494 occupations Illinois reports, this job comes in at 41 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $115,780, tax leaves $84,695, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $85,676 in comparable terms. Here the average runs under the middle, at $106,410.
- Illinois's median for stationary engineers and boiler operators is $115,780, about 47.27% above the national figure and 1 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Stationary engineers and boiler operators ranks 41 of 494 occupations by median in Illinois, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- Because Illinois sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for stationary engineers and boiler operators — median $115,780 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $84,695 retained, $85,676 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $106,410 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Stationary Engineers and Boiler Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $72,270 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $115,780 |
| Top tenth earn over | $125,260 |
| This salary | $115,780 |
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 | $84,695 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $90,281 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$7,230 |
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 | $107,839 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$9,987 |
| 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 stationary engineers and boiler operators in Illinois earn under $115,780 and half over. The published range runs $72,270 at the tenth percentile to $125,260 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $84,695 take-home in Illinois comes from $115,780. 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 41 of 494.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $85,676 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 41.
- Figures are distribution medians for stationary engineers and boiler operators in Illinois, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $72,270 to $125,260; 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.
- Retained pay of $84,695, from $115,780, 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 41 of 494 locally, and the state ranks 1 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $85,676, worked from $115,780, 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 41 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 $106,410, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $72,270 and the top tenth $125,260, 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 $85,676.
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 $84,695.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like 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 $106,410. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($72,270 to $125,260) 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 $85,676 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 $84,695 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.