Median pay · Illinois
$36,040A year. BLS publishes no hourly wage for this occupation.| Percentile | Annual | Hourly |
|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile1 in 10 earn less | $31,850 | Not published |
| 25th percentile | $35,280 | Not published |
| MedianHalf earn more, half less | $36,040 | Not published |
| 75th percentile | $59,580 | Not published |
| 90th percentile1 in 10 earn more | $96,230 | Not published |
| MeanAll pay divided by all jobs | $49,630 | Not published |
Wage survey · BLS May 2025
How we got this
- Median wage in IllinoisBLS OEWS May 2025. Half of the people in this job were paid more than this, half less.$36,040
- Take-home after federal, state and FICA tax$2,458 a month at an effective rate of 18.2%.$29,499 a year
- Worth at national average pricesPrices in Illinois sit at 100 against a national 100 (BEA, 2024).$36,055
- Against the national medianThe national median is $42,910.16% below
- Jobs countedA concentration of 1.92: this job is 92% more common here than nationally.12,340
What we assumed
- Wages are BLS OEWS survey estimates for May 2025, not job postings or offers.
- OEWS surveys wage and salary workers. The self-employed and business owners are outside it.
- Take-home assumes one 2026 filer, filing single, taking the standard deduction, with no dependents, pre-tax retirement contributions or local income tax.
- BLS publishes only an annual wage for this occupation, because a standard 2,080-hour year would misdescribe it.
- Regional price parities compare price levels between places in one year. They are not inflation, and they do not adjust for what a household actually buys.
Technical details
Method occupation-wage-v1Data bls-oews-2025-05-v1, us-tax-2026-v1, bea-rpp-2024-v1, census-acs5-2024-v1
Take-home pay after taxes
Tax year 2026 · InteractiveEstimated on the median salary of $36,040 in Illinois, for a single filer taking the standard deduction in 2026. Change the salary or filing status below to see yours.
Run the numbers on your own pay
Same U.S. tax tables as the rest of the site. Change the salary, state, or filing status.
What $36,040 is worth in Illinois
Prices in Illinois sit at 100 against a national average of 100, so $36,040 earned here buys what $36,055 buys at national average prices.
- Rents. 93.9 against 100, the component that moves most between states.
- Against local households. The median household in Illinois takes in $83,390, so this occupation's median is 0.43 times that, on one income.
- How common the job is here. 92% more concentrated in Illinois than in the country as a whole.
Reading the numbers
What stands out for postsecondary teaching assistants in Illinois
The average here is $49,630, well above the median of $36,040. A smaller group of high earners lifts the average, so the median is the better guide to what most postsecondary teaching assistants in Illinois are paid.
The gap between the ends is wide: the 90th percentile ($96,230) is 3 times the 10th ($31,850). The survey does not say who sits where in that range. It records no experience, shift or employer.
The median for this job is 0.4 times the median household income in Illinois ($83,390). Many households have two earners, so one paycheck at this level falls short of what a typical local household brings in.
Illinois employs 12,340 postsecondary teaching assistants, and the job is 1.9 times as concentrated here as in the country as a whole.
Common questions
Pay for postsecondary teaching assistants in Illinois: common questions
How much do postsecondary teaching assistants make in Illinois?
The median wage for postsecondary teaching assistants in Illinois is $36,040 a year.
Half earn more than that and half earn less. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational wage survey for May 2025.
What is the average salary for postsecondary teaching assistants in Illinois?
BLS’s mean (average) wage for postsecondary teaching assistants in Illinois is $49,630 a year. The median is $36,040.
The mean sits higher when a smaller group of high earners pulls the average up. For a typical paycheck, the median is the better middle.
What is the starting salary for postsecondary teaching assistants in Illinois?
BLS does not publish starting pay. The closest figure it does publish is the low end of the range: in Illinois, the lowest-paid 10% of postsecondary teaching assistants earn under $31,850 a year and a quarter earn under $35,280.
New hires often start somewhere in that band, but the May 2025 survey does not record experience, so read it as a floor to compare an offer against rather than a typical first salary.
What is the salary range for postsecondary teaching assistants in Illinois?
The overall salary range for postsecondary teaching assistants in Illinois spans from $31,850 for the bottom 10% to $96,230 for top earners.
The middle 50% earn between $35,280 and $59,580 a year, with the overall median at $36,040.
What is the take-home pay for postsecondary teaching assistants in Illinois?
On the median wage of $36,040, a single filer taking the 2026 standard deduction keeps an estimated $29,499 a year, or roughly $2,458 a month.
That is after federal, state and FICA tax, an effective rate of 18.2%.
Illinois takes $1,639 of it in state income tax.
How much do postsecondary teaching assistants make a month in Illinois?
On the median annual salary of $36,040, estimated take-home pay is roughly $2,458 a month after federal, state, and FICA taxes.
For workers paid on a standard biweekly schedule (26 pay periods per year), each paycheck is approximately $1,135 net.
Do postsecondary teaching assistants earn more in Illinois than in the rest of the country?
No. The median in Illinois is 16% below the national median of $42,910.
Nominal pay is only half the comparison: prices in Illinois sit at 100 against a national 100, so the gap in what the money buys is different from the gap in the salary.
Is $36,040 a good salary in Illinois?
It is 0.43 times the median household income of $83,390. A household often has more than one earner, so a single salary at this level goes further than the ratio alone suggests.
Prices in Illinois run at 100 against a national average of 100, with rents at 93.9, so $36,040 here buys about what $36,055 buys at national average prices.
What do the highest-paid postsecondary teaching assistants earn in Illinois?
The top tenth earn $96,230 a year or more. The 10th-percentile wage is $31,850.
Experience, specialty, employer and the part of Illinois someone works in all move a wage inside that range; the survey reports the spread, not the reason for it.
How many postsecondary teaching assistants are there in Illinois?
The survey counted 12,340 of these jobs in Illinois for May 2025.
That makes the occupation 92% more concentrated here than in the country as a whole. It counts wage and salary jobs, so the self-employed are outside it.