Illinois · BLS May 2025

How much do printing press operators make in Illinois?

Printing press operators in Illinois earn a median of $46,260 a year ($22.24 an hour), about $3,100 a month after federal, state and FICA tax. Figure from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey. The survey counted 9,550 of these jobs in Illinois in May 2025.

Median pay · Illinois

$46,260A year, or $22 an hour.
Take-home a month$3,100After federal, state and FICA tax at 19.6%
Worth at national prices$46,279Prices here sit at 100 against 100
Against the nation1% aboveNational median $45,780
What printing press operators earn in Illinois, May 2025
PercentileAnnualHourly
10th percentile1 in 10 earn less$31,450$15
25th percentile$36,470$18
MedianHalf earn more, half less$46,260$22
75th percentile$59,170$28
90th percentile1 in 10 earn more$66,250$32
MeanAll pay divided by all jobs$48,590$23

Wage survey · BLS May 2025

How we got this
  1. Median wage in IllinoisBLS OEWS May 2025. Half of the people in this job were paid more than this, half less.$46,260
  2. Median hourly wagePublished separately by BLS, not divided out of the annual figure.$22.24
  3. Take-home after federal, state and FICA tax$3,100 a month at an effective rate of 19.6%.$37,205 a year
  4. Worth at national average pricesPrices in Illinois sit at 100 against a national 100 (BEA, 2024).$46,279
  5. Against the national medianThe national median is $45,780.1% above
  6. Jobs countedA concentration of 1.69 against the nation's 1.00.9,550
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.
  • 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

What lands in the bank

Tax year 2026 · Interactive

Estimated on the median salary of $46,260 in Illinois, for a single filer taking the standard deduction in 2026. Explore other wage levels and filing statuses below.

$46,260
$30,000$70,000
Filing status:
Gross salary breakdown$46,260
Net 80%
Fed 7%
IL 5%
FICA 8%
Annual take-home$37,205After all taxes
Monthly deposit$3,100Estimated per month
Biweekly paycheck$1,431Every 2 weeks (26/yr)
Effective tax rate19.6%Total tax burden
Federal income tax$3,371 / yr
Illinois state income tax$2,145 / yr
FICA (Social Security & Medicare)$3,539 / yr

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 $46,260 is worth in Illinois

Prices in Illinois sit at 100 against a national average of 100, so $46,260 earned here buys what $46,279 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 0.56 times that, on one income.
  • How common the job is here. 69% more concentrated in Illinois than in the country as a whole.

Compare two places properly →

Reading the numbers

What stands out for printing press operators in Illinois

The median for this job is 0.6 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.

Common questions

Printing Press Operators pay in Illinois, answered

How much do printing press operators make in Illinois?

The median wage for printing press operators in Illinois is $46,260 a year, or $22.24 an hour.

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 Printing Press Operators salary in Illinois?

BLS’s mean (average) wage for printing press operators in Illinois is $48,590 a year. The median is $46,260.

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 hourly pay for printing press operators in Illinois?

The median hourly wage is $22.24. At a full-time year that lines up with about $46,260 a year.

BLS May 2025; hourly and annual figures come from the same survey.

What is the starting salary for printing press operators 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 printing press operators earn under $31,450 a year and a quarter earn under $36,470 ($15.12 and $17.53 an hour).

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 printing press operators in Illinois?

The overall salary range for printing press operators in Illinois spans from $31,450 for the bottom 10% to $66,250 for top earners.

The middle 50% earn between $36,470 and $59,170 a year, with the overall median at $46,260.

What is the take-home pay for printing press operators in Illinois?

On the median wage of $46,260, a single filer taking the 2026 standard deduction keeps an estimated $37,205 a year, or roughly $3,100 a month.

That is after federal, state and FICA tax, an effective rate of 19.6%.

Illinois takes $2,145 of it in state income tax.

How much does printing press operators make a month in Illinois?

On the median annual salary of $46,260, estimated take-home pay is roughly $3,100 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 $1,431 net.

Do printing press operators earn more in Illinois than in the rest of the country?

Yes. The median in Illinois is 1% above the national median of $45,780.

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 $46,260 a good salary in Illinois?

It is 0.56 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 $46,260 here buys about what $46,279 buys at national average prices.

What do the highest-paid printing press operators earn in Illinois?

The top tenth earn $66,250 a year or more. The 10th-percentile wage is $31,450.

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 printing press operators are there in Illinois?

The survey counted 9,550 of these jobs in Illinois for May 2025.

That makes the occupation 69% more concentrated here than in the country as a whole. It counts wage and salary jobs, so the self-employed are outside it.

Sources

Where this data comes from

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