Virtual receptionist in the South Illinois nonmetro area: cost vs in-house

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

The middle half of virtual receptionists in the South Illinois nonmetro area earns $32,720–$39,720. Pay is tightly grouped: the top tenth starts at $46,060, only 1.5 times the bottom tenth, against 1.7 times across the US, so the going rate is easier to read. From the 25th to the 75th percentile, the local range is only $7,000 wide, against $9,750 across Illinois and $11,170 nationally: employers in the South Illinois nonmetro area pay within a narrower band.

What to budget for a virtual receptionist here

An offer at the 75th percentile instead of the median adds $2,930 a year in pay and about $3,781 in employer cost. Going down to the 25th percentile saves $4,070 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 $38,010 falls between the median and the 75th percentile in the South Illinois nonmetro area, and the Illinois statewide median of $37,400 falls there too.

What a hire really costs in the South Illinois nonmetro area

Pay is only part of it. Benefits and payroll taxes other than paid leave are 22.5% of total compensation in US private industry², which adds about $10,681 to the $36,790 median and brings it to $47,471 a year. 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 virtual receptionists 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 South Illinois nonmetro area

Virtual receptionists have the lowest median of the 16 roles we track in the South Illinois nonmetro area; project coordinators have the highest, at $91,680.

Measured against the US median, virtual receptionists rank #2 of the 16 roles we track in the South Illinois nonmetro area (-3.2%), between data entry specialists (+0.1%) and HR assistants (-6.9%). The typical role here is at -16.6%, so, measured against the US, virtual receptionists cost more in the South Illinois nonmetro area than the area's general pay level would suggest. Virtual receptionists hold 8.6% of the jobs in the 15 of these roles with a job count in the South Illinois nonmetro area, 6.8% across Illinois and 5.9% nationally. The job is a bigger 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 $33,920 in the West Central Illinois nonmetro area to $38,060 in Chicago-Naperville, a gap of $4,140 a year. Of the 5 areas in Illinois with more virtual receptionists than the South Illinois nonmetro area, 3 pay less: Peoria, IL ($35,970), the West Central Illinois nonmetro area ($33,920) and the East Central Illinois nonmetro area ($34,770).

the South Illinois nonmetro area against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, the South Illinois nonmetro area is #175 of 521 US areas for this job. Both its size and its pay sit in the middle half of US areas. Outside Illinois, Utica-Rome and Ogden pay just above the South Illinois nonmetro area and Lancaster and Provo-Orem just below. All four are within $20 a year of the median in the South Illinois nonmetro area. Of the three markets with about as many virtual receptionists, two pay more.

Questions

Sources

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