Photographers in Illinois earn a median of $36,570 a year (18% below the U.S. median of $44,660), based on about 2,150 jobs. Pay for the same job differs a lot by employer, experience, industry and city within Illinois. These are wages of employees in the occupation, not a forecast for any individual.
Median annual pay
$36,570
18% below the U.S. median of $44,660
Average annual pay
$50,600
Mean wage
Pay range
$31,200–$96,770
10th to 90th percentile
Jobs in the state
2,150
Employees, May 2025
Median hourly pay
$17.58
Before taxes
The state's price level is 100.0 (U.S. average = 100), so a median of $36,570 here equals roughly $36,570 after adjusting for the state's price level.
Explore more: photographers salary in every state · about this career · Illinois earnings by education and major · Illinois counties
Fields of study linked to this career by the federal CIP-to-SOC crosswalk (U.S. Department of Education, NCES, with the Bureau of Labor Statistics; a classification crosswalk, and many workers entered by other routes): Journalism · Visual and Performing Arts, General · Design and Applied Arts · Film/Video and Photographic Arts
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025, state estimates (employees only; self-employed workers are not included); price-level adjustment uses the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional Price Parities (where 100 is the U.S. average; MajorPays' calculation). Wages are for an occupation in a state as a whole and vary widely by employer, experience, industry and place within the state. MajorPays selected and reorganized these figures; neither agency has approved or endorsed this presentation. See Data sources for each dataset's terms.