Accountant salary in the Northwest Illinois nonmetro area

Pay in the Northwest Illinois nonmetro area against Illinois and the US

The middle half of accountants in the Northwest Illinois nonmetro area earns $56,760–$86,800. Pay is tightly grouped: the top tenth starts at $104,570, only 2.2 times the bottom tenth, against 2.6 times across the US, so the going rate is easier to read. From the 25th to the 75th percentile, the local range is only $30,040 wide, against $35,980 across Illinois and $42,790 nationally: employers in the Northwest Illinois nonmetro area pay within a narrower band.

What to budget for an accountant here

An offer at the 75th percentile instead of the median adds $13,400 a year in pay and about $17,290 in employer cost. Going down to the 25th percentile saves $16,640 in pay. These percentiles describe what people in the job earn locally, not experience levels, so place your offer by the tasks and seniority you need.

For scale, the US median of $83,680 falls between the median and the 75th percentile in the Northwest Illinois nonmetro area, and the Illinois statewide median of $80,230 falls there too.

What a hire really costs in the Northwest Illinois nonmetro area

At the $73,400 median, a local hire costs about $94,710 a year: benefits and payroll taxes other than paid leave are 22.5% of total compensation in US private industry², about $21,310 here. Recruiting, equipment and office space come on top. Benefit levels vary by employer, so treat this as an estimate.

We place executive assistants, customer support and e-commerce staff today; for accountants we answer within one business day whether we can help. Enter the monthly pay you have in mind to compare it with a local hire. The fee field shows our standard fee³; Deel's contractor plan is the default payroll tool⁴.

Other roles in the Northwest Illinois nonmetro area

Of the 17 roles we track in the Northwest Illinois nonmetro area, this one ranks #2 by median pay, after project coordinators ($96,420); recruiters come next at $70,130.

Measured against the US median, accountants rank #13 of the 17 roles we track in the Northwest Illinois nonmetro area (-12.3%), between office managers (-9.3%) and executive assistants (-20.3%). The typical role here is at -7.4%, so, measured against the US, accountants cost less in the Northwest Illinois nonmetro area than the area's general pay level would suggest. Accountants hold 7.0% of the jobs in these 17 roles in the Northwest Illinois nonmetro area, 9.0% across Illinois and 9.1% nationally. The job is a smaller part of the local workforce in these roles than it is nationally.

Other areas in Illinois

Across the 12 areas of Illinois with data for this job, the median runs from $69,670 in Champaign-Urbana to $86,440 in Springfield, a gap of $16,770 a year. Of the 9 areas in Illinois with more accountants than the Northwest Illinois nonmetro area, 4 pay less, the largest of them the West Central Illinois nonmetro area ($70,160), the East Central Illinois nonmetro area ($71,970) and the South Illinois nonmetro area ($69,730).

the Northwest Illinois nonmetro area against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, the Northwest Illinois nonmetro area is #290 of 521 US areas for this job. Both its size and its pay sit in the middle half of US areas. Outside Illinois, Valdosta and Minot pay just above the Northwest Illinois nonmetro area and Bay City and Killeen-Temple just below. All four are within $130 a year of the median in the Northwest Illinois nonmetro area. Of the three markets with about as many accountants, two pay more.

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Sources

How these pages are built: methodology and data sources. Last updated 2026-11-12.