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Side-by-side state comparison

Illinois vs Texas Paycheck Comparison (2026)

Enter a salary below to see the take-home pay difference between Illinois and Texas for 2026, broken down line by line.

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Location A
Location B
No state income tax

Texas takes home more

+$4,805

more per year vs. Illinois · $400/mo · $185/paycheck

5-Year Difference

$24,026

Tax Component
Illinois
Texaswinner
Gross Salary$100,000$100,000
Federal Tax$13,170$13,170
Social Security$6,200$6,200
Medicare$1,450$1,450
State Tax$4,805$0
Local / City Tax$0$0
Annual Take-Home$74,375$79,180
Effective Tax Rate25.63%20.82%
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This estimate is for planning purposes only and does not constitute tax or financial advice. Actual paycheck withholding depends on your employer's payroll system, custom W-4 elections, additional income, and personal tax situation. For specific tax-planning decisions, consult a licensed CPA or tax professional.

Quick answer

On a $100,000 single salary, Texas delivers about $4,805 more take-home per year than Illinois, roughly $400 per month. Texas levies no state income tax on wages; Illinois applies a flat 4.95% state rate that's constitutionally locked in at the single-rate structure.

Illinois and Texas have produced one of the most-discussed US relocation patterns of the past decade. Illinois levies a flat 4.95% state income tax under a constitutional flat-rate requirement that voters reaffirmed at the ballot in 2020, with no city or county wage tax anywhere in the state. Texas taxes no wage income, funding state operations through sales tax, franchise tax on businesses, and property tax. Neither state runs a payroll-funded disability insurance program. Chicago anchors a financial-services and corporate cluster (Boeing, McDonald's, Caterpillar, United Airlines, Walgreens, Mondelez, the CME exchange) alongside its rail and logistics hub identity; the broader Illinois economy adds agriculture and manufacturing across downstate counties. The Texas Triangle (Houston energy and medical center, Dallas-Fort Worth finance and tech, Austin tech and state government) and San Antonio together produce the country's fourth-largest state economy. Chicago-to-Texas migration is documented as a persistent net outflow, with Houston, Dallas, and Austin each absorbing substantial portions. At $100,000 single, a Texas resident takes home $79,180 versus an Illinois resident's $74,375, a gap of $4,805 per year. Try alternate salary points in the calculator above to see how the gap scales at your real gross.

At $100,000 single filer, take-home difference

Moving from Illinois to Texas saves approximately $4,805 per year at $100,000 single.

Computed from the tax engine with 2026 federal brackets, FICA, and state tax. Standard deduction, no pre-tax contributions.

How the state tax structures compare

FeatureIllinoisTexas
State structure4.95 percent flat taxNo state income tax on wages
Taxes wages?YesNo

Take-home at four common salary points

Single filer, 2026 brackets, standard deduction, no pre-tax contributions. Delta is Texas take-home minus Illinois take-home.

SalaryIllinoisTexasDelta
$50,000$40,025$42,355+$2,330
$100,000$74,375$79,180+$4,805
$150,000$106,511$113,791+$7,280
$250,000$170,952$183,182+$12,230

What this comparison includes

This comparison computes 2026 take-home pay in Illinois and Texas side by side, using 2026 federal brackets after the standard deduction, FICA contributions (Social Security up to the annual wage base, Medicare on all wages, plus the Additional Medicare Tax above the filing-status threshold), and each state's income tax schedule along with any state-administered payroll programs and supported local layers. It excludes employer-side payroll taxes, custom W-4 elections, supplemental-wage handling for bonuses or equity vesting, and income from sources other than W-2 wages. City-level taxes are layered only on the dedicated metro pages; this comparison covers state-and-typical-local figures only, so a worker considering a specific metro should follow the relevant city link in the See also section.

Illinois vs Texas FAQ

How much more is take-home in Texas than Illinois at $100,000?
At $100,000 single, a Texas resident keeps approximately $4,805 more per year than an Illinois resident, or roughly $400 per month. The full gap is Illinois's flat 4.95% state income tax line of $4,805; Texas has no comparable line. Federal income tax and FICA are identical at the same gross salary.
Does the Illinois vs Texas gap grow with salary?
The dollar gap doesn't tell the full story. At the same gross, Texas keeps an additional $4,805 per year that compounds across years of savings and investment. The spread itself scales linearly with salary under Illinois's flat-rate structure, moving from $2,330 at $50k to $12,230 at $250k. The compounding multiplier amplifies the relocation case at every tier.
Does this comparison include local taxes?
No. Chicago does not levy a personal income tax on wages, and no other Illinois city does either. Texas cities and counties levy no income tax on wages either. The state-only numbers above capture the full state-and-local picture on the paycheck for residents of both states; property tax and sales tax sit outside payroll math.
How does married filing jointly, head of household, or filing separately change the IL vs TX gap?
MFJ widens federal brackets and doubles the federal standard deduction, dropping federal tax for both states. Illinois's constitutional flat rate stays neutral across MFJ, HoH, and MFS, so the state-side dollar gap to Texas stays close to the rate-times-income shape at this salary. Texas's $0 state line doesn't shift with filing status either. The directional advantage to Texas holds across all four filing statuses at every salary tier.
What about cost-of-living differences between Illinois and Texas?
The tax delta covers paycheck math only. Housing, transportation, and childcare costs can dwarf the tax difference, especially in Illinois's Chicago metro versus Texas's Houston, Dallas, and Austin markets. Chicago property tax sits among the highest in the country; Texas property tax is higher than the national median. Match metro to metro before treating the paycheck delta as conclusive.
How does IL vs TX compare to other flat-vs-no-tax pairs?
Illinois vs Florida runs the same playbook with different geography; the gap dynamic is similar (flat-tax state vs no-tax state). Florida vs New York and California vs Texas put progressive high-tax states next to no-tax states, producing larger gaps than IL/TX. Indiana vs Illinois compares Illinois against a lower-flat-rate state, with a smaller gap.

See also

Illinois paycheck calculatorTexas paycheck calculatorCompare any two locations (interactive)Chicago, Illinois paycheck calculatorHouston, Texas paycheck calculatorTune your W-4 withholding after a move to IllinoisCompare hourly take-home between Illinois and TexasMoving states: how two-state and commuter tax worksCalifornia vs Texas paycheck comparisonFlorida vs New York paycheck comparisonIllinois vs Indiana paycheck comparisonMassachusetts vs New Hampshire paycheck comparisonOregon vs Washington paycheck comparisonArizona vs California paycheck comparisonCalifornia vs Colorado paycheck comparisonCalifornia vs Nevada paycheck comparisonCalifornia vs Washington paycheck comparisonColorado vs Massachusetts paycheck comparisonColorado vs New York paycheck comparisonConnecticut vs New Jersey paycheck comparisonConnecticut vs New York paycheck comparisonDistrict of Columbia vs Maryland paycheck comparisonFlorida vs Georgia paycheck comparisonFlorida vs Illinois paycheck comparisonFlorida vs Massachusetts paycheck comparisonFlorida vs New Jersey paycheck comparisonFlorida vs Pennsylvania paycheck comparisonFlorida vs Texas paycheck comparisonIndiana vs Michigan paycheck comparisonIndiana vs Ohio paycheck comparisonKentucky vs Ohio paycheck comparisonMaryland vs Virginia paycheck comparisonMassachusetts vs North Carolina paycheck comparisonMinnesota vs Wisconsin paycheck comparisonNew Jersey vs New York paycheck comparisonNew Jersey vs Pennsylvania paycheck comparisonOklahoma vs Texas paycheck comparisonBrowse paycheck calculators by stateHow we calculate paycheck taxesPaycheck and tax glossary

Reviewed

How This Page Is Reviewed

The Illinois vs Texas comparison is reviewed against primary federal and state sources before each major tax-year update. Source links below are the references used to validate brackets, wage bases, and supported local taxes.

Reviewed by

PaycheckCalc Research Desk

Last reviewed

2026-07-12