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Salary data from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics

Painting, Coating, And Decorating Workers Salary: Nebraska vs Illinois

Painting, Coating, And Decorating Workers earn a median of $45,350 in Nebraska and $51,270 in Illinois. That is a nominal gap of $5,920 (-11.5%), with Illinois paying more before any cost-of-living adjustment.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey, May 2024 estimates. Cost-of-living adjustment uses BEA Regional Price Parities, most recent release.

$45,350
Nebraska median
$50,331 after COL
$51,270
Illinois median
$51,292 after COL
-11.5%
Nominal gap
Illinois leads
-1.9%
Adjusted gap
Illinois leads after COL

The story behind the numbers

On raw wages, Illinois pays $5,920 more per year than Nebraska for painting, coating, and decorating workers, a gap of +11.5%.

After adjusting for cost of living, Illinois still comes out ahead, with roughly $960 of extra purchasing power (+1.9% real gap). Local prices do not reverse the nominal advantage.

Full breakdown by location

Detailed wage, employment, and cost-of-living figures for painting, coating, and decorating workers in each location. Click through to the full local salary page for percentiles, outlook, and peer areas.

Painting, Coating, And Decorating Workers

Nebraska

Median salary
$45,350
Mean salary
$48,380
Employment
60
Location quotient
1.07
Jobs per 1,000
0.1
COL-adjusted median
$50,331
Regional Price Parity
90.1%

Exact state RPP match.

Full Painting, Coating, And Decorating Workers page for Nebraska →

Painting, Coating, And Decorating Workers

Illinois

Median salary
$51,270
Mean salary
$60,540
Employment
50
Location quotient
0.16
Jobs per 1,000
0.0
COL-adjusted median
$51,292
Regional Price Parity
100.0%

Exact state RPP match.

Full Painting, Coating, And Decorating Workers page for Illinois →

Related pages

Keep digging into painting, coating, and decorating workers 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.