How are Illinois Real Estate Agent salaries calculated on this page?

Nominal wages come from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OES) — annual employer surveys, May 2026 reference period. Real-wage figures use BEA Regional Price Parities (2023 vintage) to adjust for state-level cost of living. No self-report or jobs-board data is mixed in.

How many Real Estate Agents does Illinois employ?

BLS OES counts 4,220 Real Estate Agents employed in Illinois in the most recent release. Employment density relative to population determines whether wage tiers reflect a robust competitive market or a thinner labor pool.

Why is the BEA RPP for Illinois different from a single CPI number?

BEA splits regional price parity into three components — goods, services, and rents — reweighted to the BEA's national consumption basket. Illinois's overall index of 98.8 reflects rents 92.4, services 80.4, and goods 101.6.

Where does Illinois rank for Real Estate Agent pay?

On nominal BLS wages alone, Illinois ranks among the 51 states and DC by median pay. After the BEA cost-of-living adjustment the ordering changes — high-cost states fall, low-cost states rise. Both rankings are shown in the data table on this page.

What are the limits of these Real Estate Agent salary numbers?

BLS OES is an employer survey of W-2 wages — it excludes contractor pay, bonuses outside the base wage definition, equity compensation, and tip income. Self-employed practitioners and gig workers are not represented. For occupations with significant non-W-2 income, the BLS figure is a floor, not a complete picture.

Should I negotiate based on the BLS median for Illinois?

The BLS median is a calibration anchor, not a ceiling. Use it to validate that an offer is in-band — anything well below the P25 in this state is a flag, anything above the P75 typically requires demonstrable specialty depth, niche credentials, or a high-COL metro within Illinois.

When does this data update?

BLS OES releases a new May reference set roughly each spring; we re-run the ETL pipeline within two weeks of release. BEA RPP refreshes annually. The last-synced timestamp at the top of this page reflects the most recent build.

How Much Do Real Estate Agents Make in Illinois? $51K (2026 BLS + BEA)

TL;DR

Illinois pays Real Estate Agents a BLS median of $51,210 — the more useful number is $51,857, what that paycheck buys after rent and services.
BEA RPP near 100 means nominal pay translates almost 1:1 into real take-home.
Wage envelope: $34,340 (P10) to $85,440 (P90), with quartiles at $40,280 and $65,240.
On a real-wage basis, this state sits at #29 of 51; nominal rank is #23.

Wage breakdown — Illinois

Percentile	Nominal (BLS)	Real (BEA RPP-adjusted)
P10 (entry tier)	$34,340	$34,774
P25 (lower quartile)	$40,280	$40,789
P50 (median)	$51,210	$51,857
P75 (upper quartile)	$65,240	$66,064
P90 (top tier)	$85,440	$86,520
Mean	$57,560	$58,287
Employment	4,220 Real Estate Agents in Illinois

Cost of living — BEA Regional Price Parity

Component	Illinois index (US = 100)
All-items RPP	98.8
Goods	101.6
Services	80.4
Rents	92.4

Illinois's overall RPP (98.8) is close to the national 100 baseline; nominal and real wage move roughly together.

After-tax take-home — Illinois (2024 BLS · 2024 tax year, single filer)

Layer-by-layer take-home math at the BLS median

Layer	Amount	Note
Gross BLS P50 (Real Estate Agent)	$51,210	nominal median
Federal income tax	−$4,007	7.8% effective; std deduction $15,750 applied
State income tax	−$2,535	4.95% flat (2026)
FICA (SS 6.2% + Medicare 1.45%)	−$3,918	SS capped at $183,600 wage base
Take-home (after-tax)	$40,750	79.6% of gross
Real take-home (RPP-adjusted)	$41,265	÷ (98.8 / 100) BEA cost-of-living

What the Illinois state-tax burden means for Real Estate Agent take-home

Mid-band state-tax burden at 5.0% effective. Combined with federal and FICA, take-home is $40,750 (79.6% of gross). After the 98.8 RPP, real take-home is $41,265.

Computed from 2026 IRS federal brackets (Rev. Proc. 2025-32), 2026 state DOR brackets, and 2026 FICA rates. Single filer, standard deduction, no other adjustments. See methodology · tax for limitations (married filers, ITM/SALT itemizers, retirement deferrals, HSA, dependent credits, etc.).

National context

Across the United States, BLS reports a national median of $56,320 for Real Estate Agents with mean pay of $70,970 and total employment of 190,600. Illinois sits at #23 on nominal pay and #29 on real (cost-adjusted) pay among the 51 states and DC. After cost adjustment, Illinois falls 6 positions — the cost premium eats into the headline wage.

Frequently asked questions

How are Illinois Real Estate Agent salaries calculated on this page?: Nominal wages come from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OES) — annual employer surveys, May 2026 reference period. Real-wage figures use BEA Regional Price Parities (2023 vintage) to adjust for state-level cost of living. No self-report or jobs-board data is mixed in.
How many Real Estate Agents does Illinois employ?: BLS OES counts 4,220 Real Estate Agents employed in Illinois in the most recent release. Employment density relative to population determines whether wage tiers reflect a robust competitive market or a thinner labor pool.
Why is the BEA RPP for Illinois different from a single CPI number?: BEA splits regional price parity into three components — goods, services, and rents — reweighted to the BEA's national consumption basket. Illinois's overall index of 98.8 reflects rents 92.4, services 80.4, and goods 101.6.
Where does Illinois rank for Real Estate Agent pay?: On nominal BLS wages alone, Illinois ranks among the 51 states and DC by median pay. After the BEA cost-of-living adjustment the ordering changes — high-cost states fall, low-cost states rise. Both rankings are shown in the data table on this page.
What are the limits of these Real Estate Agent salary numbers?: BLS OES is an employer survey of W-2 wages — it excludes contractor pay, bonuses outside the base wage definition, equity compensation, and tip income. Self-employed practitioners and gig workers are not represented. For occupations with significant non-W-2 income, the BLS figure is a floor, not a complete picture.
Should I negotiate based on the BLS median for Illinois?: The BLS median is a calibration anchor, not a ceiling. Use it to validate that an offer is in-band — anything well below the P25 in this state is a flag, anything above the P75 typically requires demonstrable specialty depth, niche credentials, or a high-COL metro within Illinois.
When does this data update?: BLS OES releases a new May reference set roughly each spring; we re-run the ETL pipeline within two weeks of release. BEA RPP refreshes annually. The last-synced timestamp at the top of this page reflects the most recent build.

Sources & methodology

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OES), SOC 41-9022, 2024 reference period.
U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis — Regional Price Parities, 2023 vintage (all-items, goods, services, rents).
Real-wage figures = nominal BLS wage ÷ (state RPP / 100).
See the methodology page for full computation details and limitations.

By Marcus Liang · Founder & Editor · Last synced 2026-05-08.

Cross-comparison: see how Illinois Real Estate Agent pay ranks against the other 254 state × occupation pages on the Real Wage Atlas → — four-way ranking by real wage, after-tax take-home, state-tax savings, and cost-of-living arbitrage.