How much does a civil engineer take home in Chicago?

Using the national median salary of $95,890 for civil engineer workers, this page estimates about $71,542 per year in take-home pay in Chicago under 2026 withholding assumptions.

Why compare this page with the Illinois profession page?

The state page shows the same civil engineer salary under statewide tax rules, while this city page keeps the profession constant and swaps in Chicago's local tax context, city salary hub, and nearby-city navigation.

2026 CITY × PROFESSION SALARY GUIDE

Civil Engineer Salary in Chicago, IL

Reviewed by Kevin Marshall, CPA

This page starts with the national median salary for civil engineer workers, then runs it through ExactTakeHome's 2026 paycheck engine using Chicago's state tax context. That makes the page materially different from the statewide profession guide: the profession stays fixed, while the tax context changes with the city.

Modeled salary benchmark for civil engineers in Chicago

ExactTakeHome uses the existing national median salary benchmark of $95,890 for civil engineers, then applies Illinois withholding rules to show what that pay level looks like in Chicago.

Chicago does not carry a separate modeled local wage tax in this repo, so the city-specific differentiation comes from the city's navigation context and adjacent salary pages while the withholding math stays at the Illinois state level.

The goal is not to claim every civil engineer in Chicago earns the same amount. The goal is to give job seekers and movers a stable benchmark they can compare across cities before opening the full calculator with their own filing status, pay frequency, and deduction inputs.

Modeled gross salary	$95,890
Federal income tax	$12,266
State income tax	$4,747
FICA	$7,336
Estimated take-home pay	$71,542

What changes in Chicago

On the repo's default assumptions of single filing status, biweekly pay, standard withholding, and no pre-tax deductions, this salary benchmarks at about $71,542 per year, or $2,752 per biweekly paycheck in Chicago.

Chicago does not add a separate modeled city wage tax here, so the estimate reflects federal withholding, FICA, and Illinois state income tax only.

If you are comparing job offers, this page is most useful alongside the matching Illinois profession page and the Chicago city-salary hub. Those adjacent routes hold the same wage benchmark inside different navigation contexts, which is what makes this family useful for city-first and profession-first search intent.

Use this page with the rest of the salary graph

Nearby city pages for Civil Engineer

This family caps same-profession sibling links at 12 per page so the route stays connected without turning every leaf into a full-site directory. The links are chosen from a symmetric ring ordered by state and city name, which keeps the cap stable while ensuring every leaf both sends and receives family inlinks.