Technical Writers in Illinois
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$66,985
after federal, FICA and Illinois tax
Tax takes
$21,715
24.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$67,760
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
$88,700
Kept after tax
$66,985
Worth in national money
$67,760
State rank
16
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Illinois pays technical writers around $88,700 at the midpoint, 16 of 45 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Illinois. It ranks 110 out of 494 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $88,700, tax leaves $66,985, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $67,760 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $92,610, since top earners drag the number up.
- For technical writers the Illinois median is $88,700, ranking 16 of 45 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Within Illinois, technical writers ranks 110 of 494 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Because Illinois sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for technical writers — median $88,700 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $66,985 retained, $67,760 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $92,610 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Technical Writers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $58,800 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $88,700 |
| Top tenth earn over | $130,890 |
| This salary | $88,700 |
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 | $66,985 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $71,230 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,541 |
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 | $82,665 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$7,654 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 99 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $88,700 as a midpoint for Illinois, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $58,800 and the ninetieth is $130,890 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Illinois's $66,985, worked from $88,700. 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 110 of 494.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $67,760 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 110.
- The Illinois median of $88,700 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $58,800 to $130,890. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Illinois take-home of $66,985, on $88,700 for work ranking 110 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 110 of 494 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $67,760, worked from $88,700, 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 110 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 $92,610, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $58,800, the highest tenth $130,890, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Illinois is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $67,760 in national terms.
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 $66,985 of this wage survives to your account.
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 45 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 $92,610. 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 ($58,800) and the ninetieth ($130,890) 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 $67,760 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 $66,985 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.