Mechatronics technician salary in Illinois (2026)

How much does a mechatronics technician make in Illinois?

The Illinois spread is unusually compressed at the bottom. The 10th percentile sits at $63,780, which is already above the national median. In most states the bottom decile is where new technicians land, but here even the lowest-paid quarter clears $77,850. That tells you Illinois isn't hiring many entry-level mechatronics techs at rock-bottom wages. The jobs that exist tend to be established maintenance and automation roles at larger plants.

The middle 50% runs from $77,850 to $95,740, a fairly tight band. And the top end flattens fast: the 90th percentile of $98,160 is barely above the 75th percentile of $95,740. That squeeze at the top usually means two things. One, the sample is small (250 jobs), so the estimate is noisy. Two, there isn't a large tier of senior specialist roles pulling six figures the way there is in states with heavier automation industries. The top decile here looks more like a senior technician ceiling than a launchpad into $120k territory.

The location quotient of 0.42 is the number to sit with. It says demand for this specific occupation is thin relative to the size of Illinois's workforce. The pay is real, but you'll be competing for a limited pool of postings, and you may find more listings filed under maintenance technician, controls technician, or automation technician than under the exact mechatronics label.

Illinois mechatronics salary: BLS vs Salary.com vs Indeed

The three sources disagree hard for Illinois, and it's worth understanding why. BLS reports a median of $79,400. Salary.com models an average of $59,844 (as of July 2026), and Indeed shows $57,247. That's a gap of more than $20,000. BLS surveys actual employers about what they pay real workers, so it's the most grounded number. Salary.com builds modelled estimates from HR datasets and job titles, which tends to pull toward broader technician averages. Indeed reports what job postings advertise, and its Illinois figure rests on just 6 reported salaries. Six. That's too small to trust as anything more than a rough signal.

When you sit down to negotiate, anchor to the BLS numbers. The $79,400 median and the $77,850 to $95,740 middle range reflect what Illinois employers actually pay technicians in this occupation. Treat the Salary.com and Indeed figures as a floor-check, not a target, especially given how few data points Indeed is working from.

Mechatronics technician pay by metro area in Illinois

Almost all of the Illinois employment is in one place: the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin metro accounts for about 190 of the state's 250 jobs. The pay there mirrors the statewide picture almost exactly, with a median of $79,400, a mean of $81,360, and a top decile of $97,890. If you want to work as a mechatronics technician in Illinois, greater Chicago is where the postings are. Outside the metro, the roles thin out quickly, though pockets exist near downstate plants in Normal, Rockford, and the Peoria area.

Job outlook for mechatronics technicians in Illinois

This is the honest weak spot. The Illinois Department of Employment Security projects this occupation to shrink from 330 jobs in 2024 to 310 by 2034, a 5.8% decline. Nationally the same role is projected to grow 0.7%. So Illinois is going the wrong direction relative to the country, which fits the low location quotient. See the state's own projection detail at IDES employment projections.

Now the counterweight. Even a shrinking occupation still generates openings, and Illinois projects about 20 a year. With only a few hundred people doing the job, that's mostly retirements and people moving into engineering or supervisory roles, not brand-new headcount. So the door isn't closed. It's just that you're stepping into replacement openings rather than a hiring wave, and you'll want to be flexible about job titles and willing to relocate within the state to catch them.

How Illinois compares with nearby states

Inside the Midwest, Illinois is near the top of the pay table. Its $79,400 median trails North Dakota ($82,820) but sits above Wisconsin ($76,290), Ohio ($73,050), and well above Michigan ($62,460) and Indiana ($47,440). The catch is volume: Illinois has 250 jobs while Michigan, with its auto-plant density, has 850. So Illinois pays more per job than most of its neighbors but offers a fraction of the openings a state like Michigan does.

Who hires mechatronics technicians in Illinois

The clearest single employer is Rivian's electric-vehicle plant in Normal, IL. Its careers page lists multi-craft maintenance technicians and AGV (automated guided vehicle) technicians, with duties that read straight off a mechatronics job sheet: break-fix and preventative maintenance on automated equipment, sensor and motor calibration, and PLC troubleshooting. The plant also hires automation controls engineers if you want to see where the technician track can lead.

Beyond Rivian, the postings cluster around greater Chicago and Rockford: food and consumer-goods plants, industrial automation shops, and material-handling operations all list automation and electromechanical maintenance roles. Because Illinois files many of these jobs under maintenance or automation technician rather than mechatronics, search several titles when you look.

How to earn more as a mechatronics technician in Illinois

Stack certifications that map to plant hiring

Illinois postings lean on PLC troubleshooting, robotics, and controls. A targeted certification stack (PLC programming, an industrial robotics cert, and an electrical safety credential) moves you out of the $63,780 bottom decile and toward the $95,740 upper quarter faster than time alone does. See our certifications guide for which ones Midwest employers actually ask for.

Base yourself in greater Chicago

About 190 of the state's 250 jobs are in the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin metro, and that's where the pay data holds up, with a median of $79,400 and a top decile near $97,890. If you're serious about this occupation in Illinois, being inside that metro isn't just convenient, it's where the postings actually exist. Downstate roles are real but sparse.

Step up to the controls-engineer track

The Illinois technician ceiling flattens around $98,160, and the outlook for the technician role is a slight decline. The controls and automation engineer path clears that ceiling, and Illinois employers like Rivian hire those roles well into six figures. Our controls engineer guide and full salary guide lay out the jump.

Sources & methodology

Figures on this page come from four independent datasets, retrieved 2026-07-14. Where they disagree, the disagreement is shown rather than averaged away; the source-comparison section explains why each number differs.

• BLS OEWS, SOC 17-3024, May 2025 national and state estimates (state file oesm25st.zip). Employer-reported, the authoritative baseline.
• Salary.com, Mechatronics Technician in Illinois, as of July 01, 2026. HR-reported and modelled averages.
• Indeed, mechatronics technician salaries in Illinois, based on 6 reported salaries. Posting-derived.
• Projections Central, 2024–2034 state occupational projections produced by Illinois's labor market agency (state source).
• Rivian careers, Normal IL (Multi-Craft Maintenance Technician)