Training and Development Specialists in Illinois
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$53,041
after federal, FICA and Illinois tax
Tax takes
$14,339
21.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$53,656
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
$67,380
Kept after tax
$53,041
Worth in national money
$53,656
State rank
22
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Illinois is 22 of 51 states for this job, with a middle wage of $67,380. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Against other work in Illinois, this sits in the middle: 202 of 494 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $67,380 the take-home is $53,041, which is worth about $53,656 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $74,660, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Illinois ranks 22 of 51 for training and development specialists at $67,380. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Training and development specialists ranks 202 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.
- Illinois's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for training and development specialists on its $67,380 median: $53,041 retained after tax becomes $53,656 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $74,660 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Training and Development Specialists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $39,430 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $67,380 |
| Top tenth earn over | $119,970 |
| This salary | $67,380 |
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 | $53,041 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $56,232 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,211 |
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 | $63,300 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,202 |
| 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 training and development specialists in Illinois earn under $67,380 and half over. The published range runs $39,430 at the tenth percentile to $119,970 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $53,041 take-home in Illinois comes from $67,380. 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 202 of 494.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $53,656 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 202.
- Figures are distribution medians for training and development specialists in Illinois, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $39,430 to $119,970; 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 $53,041, from $67,380, 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 202 of 494 locally, and the state ranks 22 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $53,656, worked from $67,380, 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 202 of 494 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $74,660, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $39,430, the highest tenth $119,970, 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 $53,656 in national terms.
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 $53,041.
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 $74,660. 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 ($39,430) and the ninetieth ($119,970) 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 $53,656 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 $53,041 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.