Telecommunications Line Installers and Repairers in Illinois
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$55,213
after federal, FICA and Illinois tax
Tax takes
$15,487
21.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$55,852
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
$70,700
Kept after tax
$55,213
Worth in national money
$55,852
State rank
23
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Illinois sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $70,700, ranking 23 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 195 among 494 occupations Illinois publishes pay for.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $70,700 the take-home is $55,213, which is worth about $55,852 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $70,890, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Illinois occupies the middle band for telecommunications line installers and repairers: a median of $70,700, ranking 23 of 51. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Position 195 of 494 in Illinois places telecommunications line installers and repairers 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.
- Illinois's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for telecommunications line installers and repairers on its $70,700 median: $55,213 retained after tax becomes $55,852 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $70,890 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Telecommunications Line Installers and Repairers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $33,810 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $70,700 |
| Top tenth earn over | $100,140 |
| This salary | $70,700 |
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 | $55,213 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $58,567 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,418 |
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 | $66,002 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,866 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 99 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $70,700 as a midpoint for Illinois, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $33,810 and the ninetieth is $100,140 — 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 $55,213, worked from $70,700. 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 195 of 494.
- One number stands for prices across all of Illinois, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $55,852, the adjusted value of that $70,700 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 195 of 494 in the state.
- The Illinois median of $70,700 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $33,810 to $100,140. 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 $55,213, on $70,700 for work ranking 195 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 195 of 494 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Illinois, so $55,852 — the adjusted value of that $70,700 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 195 of 494 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $33,810 and the top tenth $100,140 — 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 $55,852 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 $55,213 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($33,810) and the ninetieth ($100,140) 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 $55,852 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 $55,213 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.