Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers in Illinois
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$41,020
after federal, FICA and Illinois tax
Tax takes
$10,300
20.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$41,495
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
$51,320
Kept after tax
$41,020
Worth in national money
$41,495
State rank
34
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Illinois pays this job around $51,320 at the midpoint, 34 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 494 occupations Illinois reports figures for, this is number 314.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $51,320, tax leaves $41,020, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $41,495 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $55,930, since top earners drag the number up.
- For welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers the Illinois median is $51,320, ranking 34 of 51 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.
- In Illinois's occupational distribution, welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers sits at 314 of 494 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Because Illinois sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers — median $51,320 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $41,020 retained, $41,495 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $55,930 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $38,890 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $51,320 |
| Top tenth earn over | $76,730 |
| This salary | $51,320 |
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 | $41,020 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $43,416 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,183 |
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 | $48,339 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,849 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 99 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $51,320 as a midpoint for Illinois, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $38,890 and the ninetieth is $76,730 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $41,020 take-home in Illinois comes from $51,320. 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 314 of 494.
- Two cautions on $41,495, the adjusted value of that $51,320 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 314 of 494 locally.
- The Illinois median of $51,320 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $38,890 to $76,730. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $41,020, from $51,320, 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 314 of 494 locally, and the state ranks 34 of 51 for it.
- This $41,495 adjusted figure, worked from $51,320, 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 314 of 494 in the state. The occupation ranks 314 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 $55,930, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $38,890 at the bottom tenth to $76,730 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $41,495 in national terms.
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, $41,020 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 $55,930. 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 ($38,890) and the ninetieth ($76,730) 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 $41,495 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 $41,020 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.