What Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand earn in Will County, IL
According to the latest federal wage data for the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN metropolitan area, the median pay for Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand in Will County, IL is $40,550 a year, or $19.50 an hour. After federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare and state income tax, the paycheck shrinks to $32,844 a year, and rent, food and energy take another bite. The sections below walk through each step with the actual math for Will County, IL.
The mean wage is $43,140, which is 6.4% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 157,920 people working in this occupation across the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Will County, IL has roughly 701,462 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand in the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $31,860 a year ($15.32 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $56,440 or more ($27.13 an hour). That is a gap of $24,580 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $35,920 at the 25th percentile and $47,640 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.8 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Employers quote this occupation by the hour or by the year, so here are both: $19.50 an hour or $40,550 a year at the median for Will County, IL. Before any deductions, that is $3,379 a month, $1,560 every two weeks and $780 each week. After taxes the same job pays $15.79 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
How pay in Will County, IL compares
Compared with the Illinois average
Pay for Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand in Will County, IL is in line with the statewide figure: $40,550 locally against an employment-weighted Illinois average of $40,881, a difference of only $331 (0.8%). Within Illinois, Will County, IL already has the highest median we track for this job.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand is $41,056 across the contiguous United States. At $40,550, Will County, IL pays $506 less, which is 1.2% below that benchmark. Keep in mind that a higher salary only helps if living costs do not rise faster, which is why the cost sections below matter as much as the headline number.
Where this job ranks in Will County, IL
Among the 618 occupations with published wages in Will County, IL, Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand ranks number 535 by median pay, ahead of about 13% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Financial Managers at $168,810 a year, which is $128,260 more than the median for Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand.
From gross pay to take-home pay
Three separate tax bills sit between the gross salary and the bank account: federal income tax, FICA, and state income tax. For Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand earning the Will County, IL median of $40,550, they add up to $7,706. The result is $32,844 of take-home pay a year ($2,737 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $19 goes to taxes and $81 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 19.0%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $24,800. Federal brackets are marginal, so only the slice of income above each threshold is taxed at the higher rate; the last dollars of this salary fall in the 12% bracket. The resulting federal income tax is $2,738, an effective 6.8% of gross pay, well below the 12% marginal rate because the lower brackets are cheaper.
Social Security and Medicare (FICA)
Payroll taxes are a flat percentage of wages. Social Security takes 6.2% up to a wage base of $176,100, which costs $2,514 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $588. FICA totals $3,102, which is 7.7% of gross pay.
State income tax in Illinois
Illinois income tax on this salary is $1,866 a year, or 4.6% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 68% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $156 a month. Local taxes such as county or city income taxes are not included, so a few jurisdictions may withhold slightly more.
A cross-check with IRS data for Will County, IL
IRS Statistics of Income data for Will County, IL show an average adjusted gross income of $98,820 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 13.7% across all filers. Filers in the $25,000 to under $50,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 5.0%, compared with the 6.8% estimated here for a single filer taking the standard deduction. Gaps between the two reflect filing status, dependents, credits and other income, none of which a single-person wage estimate includes.
Cost of living in Will County, IL
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Will County, IL: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $32,844 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Will County, IL, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $1,780 a month ($21,360 a year), and at $2,011 for two bedrooms. For Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand, a one-bedroom absorbs 65.0% of take-home pay and 52.7% of gross pay.
Food
The USDA Thrifty Food Plan (August 2026) puts the cost of a nutritious home-cooked diet for an adult at about $3,436 a year, which is $286 a month or $66.07 a week. That equals 8.5% of gross pay for Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand in Will County, IL. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Illinois residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,677 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $434, for $2,110 in total. Gasoline in Illinois averages $3.18 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,471.
What is left over
Rent, food, energy and gasoline cost $28,377 a year in Will County, IL. Subtract that from $32,844 of take-home pay and $4,467 remains, which is $372 a month of breathing room. That margin equals 11.0% of gross pay, a workable but modest cushion.
Can Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand afford to live in Will County, IL?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $40,550 that ceiling is $1,014 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,780 is $766 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $34.23 an hour; the median for Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand is $19.50, which is 43% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $15.79 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 26.0 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $2,011 a month means $1,006 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $9,294 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $13,761.
How fast you can save
At $372 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 27 months (2.3 years). Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 54 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand pay in Will County, IL
How much do Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand make per hour in Will County, IL?
The median is $19.50 per hour, based on $40,550 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $15.32 at the 10th percentile to $27.13 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand take home after taxes in Will County, IL?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $40,550 becomes $32,844 a year. That is $2,737 a month, $1,263 every two weeks or $632 a week.
How much tax do Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand pay in Will County, IL?
Total taxes are $7,706 a year, an effective rate of 19.0%: $2,738 federal income tax, $3,102 FICA and $1,866 Illinois income tax.
Do Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand earn more in Will County, IL than elsewhere in Illinois?
It is about the same. The local median of $40,550 is within 0.8% of the Illinois average of $40,881.
Can Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand afford a one-bedroom apartment in Will County, IL?
A one-bedroom costs $1,780 a month against take-home pay of $2,737, which is 65.0% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $1,014 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand in Will County, IL?
About $372 a month ($4,467 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $28,377 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Will County, IL at the 30% guideline?
$34.23 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $21,360 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand is $19.50.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN metropolitan area; hourly-only values are annualized at 2,080 hours. Rents are HUD Fair Market Rents, food costs come from the USDA Thrifty Food Plan, and energy prices come from the Energy Information Administration. County-level tax statistics come from the IRS Statistics of Income.
Taxes use tax-year 2025 federal brackets, FICA rates and the Illinois rules for a single filer with wage income only. Figures are estimates for planning and comparison, not tax or financial advice, and they exclude local income taxes, benefits, retirement contributions and individual circumstances.