- The middle half earn between $18.44 and $23.73 an hour.
- Illinois ranks 16th of the 50 states with published figures for median pay in this trade.
- Illinois pays more than all 5 neighboring states.
- BLS counts about 2,470 pest control technicians on payrolls in Illinois.
- At the state median wage, a pest control company needs to bill about $109.80 an hour on the labor rate calculator's starting numbers.
Pest Control Technician pay in Illinois, bottom to top
The BLS group is pest control workers: the technicians who inspect, treat and set traps in homes and businesses.
| Pay level | Hourly | Yearly | National hourly |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $17.37 | $36,120 | $16.67 |
| 25th percentile | $18.44 | $38,350 | $18.00 |
| Median | $22.33 | $46,450 | $21.75 |
| 75th percentile | $23.73 | $49,360 | $23.85 |
| 90th percentile | $30.02 | $62,450 | $29.75 |
| Average (mean) | $22.84 | $47,510 | $22.31 |
From the bottom tenth ($17.37) to the top tenth ($30.02), the top of the scale pays about 1.7 times the bottom in Illinois, close to the 1.8 times spread for pest control technicians nationwide.
Both ends of the scale beat the national figures: $17.37 against $16.67 at the bottom tenth, and $30.02 against $29.75 at the top.
The average, $22.84, is close to the median, so pay sits fairly evenly around the middle.
How Illinois compares with other states
Over a full year the gap to the national median is small: $46,450 in Illinois against $45,250 nationally, $1,200 more.
In the state ranking, Illinois sits 16th, between Oregon ($22.39) and Vermont ($22.27). The range runs from $17.82 in New Mexico to $24.66 in Washington.
Illinois pays pest control technicians more than any of its neighboring states, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri and Wisconsin. Someone working near the border can earn more by taking work on this side of it.
How many pest control technicians work in Illinois
About 2,470 pest control technicians work on payrolls in Illinois, 2.4% of the 102,620 nationwide, the 11th largest count among the states.
It is a smaller part of local jobs than in most of the country, at 0.4 per 1,000 jobs, 0.61 times the national share.
What a pest control company in Illinois should charge
Say you run a pest control company in Illinois and pay the state median of $22.33 an hour. Here is the labor rate calculator's math on its starting numbers: 40-hour weeks, 10 paid days off, 2 unbilled hours a day, 7.65% payroll taxes, $90,000 a year of overhead and 15% profit.
| Step | Math | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Paid hours | 40 × 52 | 2,080 |
| Hours at work | 2,080 − 10 days × 8 | 2,000 |
| Billable hours | 2,000 × 6 ÷ 8 | 1,500 |
| Labor cost | $22.33 × 2,080 × 1.0765 | $50,000 |
| Break-even rate | ($50,000 + $90,000) ÷ 1,500 | $93.33 |
| Rate with 15% profit | $93.33 ÷ 0.85 | $109.80 |
That is $109.80 per billable hour, 4.9 times the wage, and $1.02 more than the $108.78 the same math gives at the national median wage.
Paying the 75th percentile instead, $23.73 in Illinois, to hire and keep experienced people raises the rate to $112.26.
A cheaper crew saves less than it seems: at the 25th percentile wage of $18.44, the rate only drops to $102.97.
At this wage, overhead is most of the price: $60 of every billed hour goes to it before anyone is paid. Spreading the same overhead over more billable hours, with a second person or less drive time, brings the rate down fastest.
Run it with your own numbers in the labor rate calculator. It is free and shows every step.
Working as a pest control technician in Illinois
- Licensing. What Illinois asks for before you can work on your own: Pest control license in Illinois.
- Running the business. Quotes, invoices, booking and your website in one place: how pest control companies run on Koira.
- Getting found. The free Koira report checks how your business shows up in search and on maps against shops near you.
Where these numbers come from
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.
The figures are the BLS state estimates for SOC 37-2021, pest control workers, across all industries, read straight from the May 2025 state data file. They cover wage and salary workers, not the self-employed. Where BLS did not publish a figure, this page leaves it out.
All states in one table: pest control technician salary by state.