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Helpers, Construction Trades, All Other Salary: Arizona vs Illinois

Helpers, Construction Trades, All Other earn a median of $47,830 in Arizona and $49,880 in Illinois. That is a nominal gap of $2,050 (-4.1%), with Illinois paying more before any cost-of-living adjustment.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey, May 2025 estimates. Cost-of-living adjustment uses BEA Regional Price Parities, most recent release.

$47,830
Arizona median
$47,508 after COL
$49,880
Illinois median
$49,901 after COL
-4.1%
Nominal gap
Illinois leads
-4.8%
Adjusted gap
Illinois leads after COL

The story behind the numbers

On raw wages, Illinois pays $2,050 more per year than Arizona for helpers, construction trades, all other, a gap of +4.1%.

After adjusting for cost of living, Illinois still comes out ahead, with roughly $2,393 of extra purchasing power (+4.8% real gap). Local prices do not reverse the nominal advantage.

Full breakdown by location

Detailed wage, employment, and cost-of-living figures for helpers, construction trades, all other in each location. Click through to the full local salary page for percentiles, outlook, and peer areas.

Helpers, Construction Trades, All Other

Arizona

Median salary
$47,830
Mean salary
$47,090
Employment
790
Location quotient
1.53
Jobs per 1,000
0.2
COL-adjusted median
$47,508
Regional Price Parity
100.7%

Exact state RPP match.

Full Helpers, Construction Trades, All Other page for Arizona →

Helpers, Construction Trades, All Other

Illinois

Median salary
$49,880
Mean salary
$52,570
Employment
160
Location quotient
0.17
Jobs per 1,000
0.0
COL-adjusted median
$49,901
Regional Price Parity
100.0%

Exact state RPP match.

Full Helpers, Construction Trades, All Other page for Illinois →

Related pages

Keep digging into helpers, construction trades, all other from a different angle.

Common questions about this comparison

What does the cost-of-living adjustment actually do? +

It divides each location's nominal median wage by its Regional Price Parity (RPP), which measures how local prices compare to the national average (100 = national). A wage of $100,000 in an area with RPP 120 has the same purchasing power as roughly $83,000 nationally.

Why would the nominal and adjusted winners disagree? +

High-cost metros often pay higher salaries, but not by enough to fully offset the higher cost of housing, goods, and services. When that happens, the location with the lower nominal wage actually offers more real purchasing power.

What is a location quotient? +

The location quotient measures how concentrated an occupation is in a given area versus the national average. A value of 2.0 means the occupation is twice as common there as nationally. It is a signal of what a state specializes in.