Urban and Regional Planners in Illinois
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$68,724
after federal, FICA and Illinois tax
Tax takes
$22,636
24.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$69,520
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
$91,360
Kept after tax
$68,724
Worth in national money
$69,520
State rank
12
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Illinois pays urban and regional planners a middle wage of $91,360, ranking 12 of 51 states and sitting about 2.28% above the national middle.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Illinois. It ranks 104 out of 494 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $91,360 the take-home is $68,724, which is worth about $69,520 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $97,270, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Illinois's median for urban and regional planners is $91,360, about 2.28% above the national figure and 12 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.
- Within Illinois, urban and regional planners ranks 104 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.
- Illinois's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for urban and regional planners on its $91,360 median: $68,724 retained after tax becomes $69,520 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $97,270 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Urban and Regional Planners
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $56,190 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $91,360 |
| Top tenth earn over | $145,660 |
| This salary | $91,360 |
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 | $68,724 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $73,102 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,707 |
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 | $85,137 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$7,883 |
| 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 $91,360. The published range is $56,190 up to $145,660, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $68,724 take-home in Illinois comes from $91,360. 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 104 of 494.
- Two cautions on $69,520, the adjusted value of that $91,360 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 104 of 494 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for urban and regional planners in Illinois the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $56,190 to $145,660. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $68,724, from $91,360, 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 104 of 494 locally, and the state ranks 12 of 51 for it.
- This $69,520 adjusted figure, worked from $91,360, 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 104 of 494 in the state. The occupation ranks 104 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 $97,270, 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 $56,190, the highest tenth $145,660, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $69,520.
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 $68,724 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.
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 $97,270. 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 ($56,190) and the ninetieth ($145,660) 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 $69,520 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 $68,724 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.