Veterinarians in Illinois
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$96,101
after federal, FICA and Illinois tax
Tax takes
$37,479
28.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$97,214
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
$133,580
Kept after tax
$96,101
Worth in national money
$97,214
State rank
8
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Illinois is one of the better-paying states for veterinarians. The middle earner takes $133,580, which ranks 8 of 49 states with published figures. That is about 2.67% above the national middle.
- Within Illinois this is well-paid work. Of 494 occupations with published figures in the state, veterinarians ranks 22 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $133,580, tax leaves $96,101, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $97,214 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $153,810, since top earners drag the number up.
- Illinois ranks 8 of 49 states publishing a median for veterinarians, at $133,580 — about 2.67% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Ranked against every occupation Illinois publishes a median for, veterinarians sits 22 of 494 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- Because Illinois sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for veterinarians — median $133,580 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $96,101 retained, $97,214 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $153,810 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Veterinarians
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $74,840 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $133,580 |
| Top tenth earn over | $280,380 |
| This salary | $133,580 |
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 | $96,101 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $102,568 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$8,336 |
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 | $124,118 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$11,850 |
| 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 $133,580. The published range is $74,840 up to $280,380, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Illinois's $96,101, worked from $133,580. 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 22 of 494.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $97,214 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 22.
- Reported values are medians; for veterinarians in Illinois the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $74,840 to $280,380. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Illinois take-home of $96,101, on $133,580 for work ranking 22 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 22 of 494 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $97,214, worked from $133,580, 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 22 of 494 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $153,810 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $74,840 and the top tenth $280,380 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $97,214.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Illinois's own levy, $96,101 remains.
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 49 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 $153,810. 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 ($74,840) and the ninetieth ($280,380) 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 $97,214 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 $96,101 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.