What Human Resources Specialists earn in Bond County, IL
The median pay for Human Resources Specialists in Bond County, IL is $71,670 per year, which works out to $34.46 per hour. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics wage survey for the St. Louis, MO-IL metropolitan area, the labor market that Bond County, IL belongs to. Half of the workers in this occupation earn more than the median and half earn less, which makes it a sturdier yardstick than an average that a few very high earners can pull upward.
The mean wage is $77,170, which is 7.7% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 8,130 people working in this occupation across the St. Louis, MO-IL metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Bond County, IL has roughly 16,716 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Human Resources Specialists in the St. Louis, MO-IL metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $47,230 a year ($22.71 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $116,290 or more ($55.91 an hour). That is a gap of $69,060 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $54,770 at the 25th percentile and $93,950 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 2.5 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Converted to an hourly wage, the median for Human Resources Specialists in Bond County, IL is $34.46. A full-time schedule of 40 hours for 52 weeks adds up to $71,670, and the same salary is $5,973 a month before taxes or about $2,757 per biweekly pay period. After taxes the same job pays $26.71 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Human Resources Specialists
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Human Resources Specialists this way: "Recruit, screen, interview, or place individuals within an organization. May perform other activities in multiple human resources areas."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Address employee relations issues, such as harassment allegations, work complaints, or other employee concerns"; "Analyze employment-related data and prepare required reports"; "Conduct exit interviews and ensure that necessary employment termination paperwork is completed"; "Confer with management to develop or implement personnel policies or procedures".
Job outlook for Human Resources Specialists
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 939,700 jobs in 2025 to 999,700 in 2035, a change of +6.4%, faster than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 73,700 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 7.8% of current employment each year.
Typical entry-level education: bachelor's degree. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $75,940 for this occupation; the Bond County, IL median of $71,670 is 5.6% below it.
How pay in Bond County, IL compares
Compared with the Illinois average
The local median of $71,670 sits below the Illinois employment-weighted average of $75,751. The shortfall is $4,081 a year, or 5.4%, so Bond County, IL is a lower-paying market for this job than the state as a whole. Within Illinois, the highest median we track for this job is $78,210 in Cook County, IL.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Human Resources Specialists is $75,885 across the contiguous United States. At $71,670, Bond County, IL pays $4,215 less, which is 5.5% below that benchmark. Keep in mind that a higher salary only helps if living costs do not rise faster, which is why the cost sections below matter as much as the headline number.
Where this job ranks in Bond County, IL
Among the 578 occupations with published wages in Bond County, IL, Human Resources Specialists ranks number 192 by median pay, ahead of about 67% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Software Developers at $129,030 a year, which is $57,360 more than the median for Human Resources Specialists.
From gross pay to take-home pay
A salary of $71,670 does not arrive in full. We model a single filer with wage income only, the standard deduction and tax-year 2025 rules, and we keep the three tax layers apart: federal income tax, FICA (Social Security and Medicare) and state income tax. Together they take $16,106 a year, which leaves $55,564, or $4,630 a month.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $22 goes to taxes and $78 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 22.5%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $55,920. Federal brackets are marginal, so only the slice of income above each threshold is taxed at the higher rate; the last dollars of this salary fall in the 22% bracket. The resulting federal income tax is $7,216, an effective 10.1% of gross pay, well below the 22% marginal rate because the lower brackets are cheaper.
Social Security and Medicare (FICA)
Payroll taxes are a flat percentage of wages. Social Security takes 6.2% up to a wage base of $176,100, which costs $4,444 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $1,039. FICA totals $5,483, which is 7.7% of gross pay.
State income tax in Illinois
Illinois income tax on this salary is $3,407 a year, or 4.8% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 47% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $284 a month. Local taxes such as county or city income taxes are not included, so a few jurisdictions may withhold slightly more.
A cross-check with IRS data for Bond County, IL
IRS Statistics of Income data for Bond County, IL show an average adjusted gross income of $67,926 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 10.1% across all filers. Filers in the $50,000 to under $75,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 7.1%, compared with the 10.1% estimated here for a single filer taking the standard deduction. Gaps between the two reflect filing status, dependents, credits and other income, none of which a single-person wage estimate includes.
Cost of living in Bond County, IL
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Bond County, IL: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $55,564 of take-home pay.
Rent
The HUD Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Bond County, IL is $899 a month, or $10,788 a year. A two-bedroom costs $979 a month. For Human Resources Specialists, a one-bedroom absorbs 19.4% of take-home pay and 15.1% of gross pay.
Food
The USDA Thrifty Food Plan (August 2026) puts the cost of a nutritious home-cooked diet for an adult at about $3,436 a year, which is $286 a month or $66.07 a week. That equals 4.8% of gross pay for Human Resources Specialists in Bond County, IL. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Illinois residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,677 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $434, for $2,110 in total. Gasoline in Illinois averages $3.18 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,471.
What is left over
Add the four basics together and living costs come to $17,805 a year, 32% of take-home pay. That leaves $37,759 a year, or $3,147 a month, for savings, transportation beyond fuel, health care, debt and everything else. That margin equals 52.7% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Bond County, IL
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Bond County, IL: property taxes, housing prices and the daily commute. The figures below are exact U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates for Bond County, IL, set beside the Illinois and national medians.
Property taxes in Bond County, IL
Homeowners in Bond County, IL pay a median of $2,747 a year in real estate taxes, 48% below the Illinois median of $5,298 and 12% below the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $145,700, the median tax bill is 1.89% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Human Resources Specialists median of $71,670, a tax bill of that size would equal 3.8% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Bond County, IL
Renters in Bond County, IL pay a median gross rent of $785 a month in the Census survey, 38% below the Illinois median of $1,274. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $899 a month; the two measures differ because the Census figure covers units of every size that renters already occupy, while the HUD figure is a one-bedroom benchmark. The median value of an owner-occupied home is $145,700, 45% below the Illinois median of $263,300. Median household income is $65,959, 21% below the Illinois median of $83,390, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 16.4% of that income.
Commuting in Bond County, IL
Workers in Bond County, IL who travel to a workplace spend an average of 23.6 minutes each way, 15% below the Illinois average of 27.8. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 3.9 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 8.2% of workers in Bond County, IL work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Human Resources Specialists afford to live in Bond County, IL?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $71,670 that ceiling is $1,792 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $899 is $893 under it, so rent fits the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $17.29 an hour; the median for Human Resources Specialists is $34.46, which is 99% above that mark. Another way to see it: at $26.71 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 7.8 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $979 a month means $490 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $4,914 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $42,673.
How fast you can save
At $3,147 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 4 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 8 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Human Resources Specialists pay in Bond County, IL
What is the hourly wage for Human Resources Specialists in Bond County, IL?
The median is $34.46 per hour, based on $71,670 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $22.71 at the 10th percentile to $55.91 at the 90th percentile.
What is the take-home pay for Human Resources Specialists in Bond County, IL?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $71,670 becomes $55,564 a year. That is $4,630 a month, $2,137 every two weeks or $1,069 a week.
What percentage of pay goes to taxes for Human Resources Specialists in Bond County, IL?
Total taxes are $16,106 a year, an effective rate of 22.5%: $7,216 federal income tax, $5,483 FICA and $3,407 Illinois income tax.
Is pay for Human Resources Specialists in Bond County, IL above the Illinois average?
No. The local median of $71,670 is -5.4% versus the Illinois average of $75,751, a difference of $4,081 a year.
Is a one-bedroom rent affordable on the median Human Resources Specialists salary in Bond County, IL?
A one-bedroom costs $899 a month against take-home pay of $4,630, which is 19.4% of take-home pay. That meets the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $1,792 a month.
How much is left after rent, food and energy for Human Resources Specialists in Bond County, IL?
About $3,147 a month ($37,759 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $17,805 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Bond County, IL at the 30% guideline?
$17.29 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $10,788 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Human Resources Specialists is $34.46.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the St. Louis, MO-IL metropolitan area; hourly-only values are annualized at 2,080 hours. Rents are HUD Fair Market Rents, food costs come from the USDA Thrifty Food Plan, and energy prices come from the Energy Information Administration. County-level tax statistics come from the IRS Statistics of Income.
Taxes use tax-year 2025 federal brackets, FICA rates and the Illinois rules for a single filer with wage income only. Figures are estimates for planning and comparison, not tax or financial advice, and they exclude local income taxes, benefits, retirement contributions and individual circumstances.