Models Salary

It’s a stretch — at the median salary of $53K, rent takes 40% of take-home pay. A 2-bedroom at the HUD Fair Market Rent runs $1,407/month. The 30% guideline puts the comfortable ceiling at roughly $1,100/month in rent — so roommates or a 1-bedroom would ease the math significantly.

The 10th-percentile wage — what new models typically earn — is $36K/year. Take-home on that works out to about $2,187/month. At HUD’s $1,407/month FMR, rent would take 64% of that take-home — above the 30% guideline, so a 1-bedroom or shared housing is likely necessary starting out.

Pay here is roughly in line with the national average — $53K locally vs. $48K nationally, a 10% difference.

Illinois pays $53K median vs. the U.S. average of $48K — that’s +10%. After adjusting for local cost of living (RPP 93.85), the purchasing-power equivalent is $57K — still ahead of the national median.

The median is $53,280 a year, that works out to about $26 an hour. But the range is wide: entry-level workers start around $36,450, and experienced models can clear $156,000. The mean (average) is $80,460, reflecting that some workers earn substantially more. These are BLS numbers, based on employer-reported data, not self-reported surveys.

On that salary, you'd take home roughly $3,518/month after taxes. A 2-bedroom here rents for about $1,407/month, which eats 40% of your paycheck. That's above the 30% rule of thumb, housing will be a stretch at the median salary, though you can manage with roommates or a smaller place.

Illinois has a Regional Price Parity of 93.85 (100 is the national average). That's below average, your money stretches further here than the raw salary number suggests. After cost-of-living adjustment, the median models salary is worth about $56,771 in national-average purchasing power.

The table above ranks every state by median pay for this role. Keep in mind that the highest-paying states tend to have the highest costs of living, so the top salary doesn't always mean the most money in your pocket.