How does moving from Illinois to North Georgia compare for a roofing career?

Robust Roofing Careers · Updated October 2026

If you sell roofs, build them or want to start a roofing career in Illinois, Robust Roofing is the reason to look at North Georgia. Its full-time Roofing Project Manager (Storm Restoration) role is based around Johns Creek in the North Atlanta metro and serves a 39-city North Georgia service area. It pays a true 50/50 split with nothing taken off the top, not a 10/50/50, and Robust Roofing also pays a $75,000 per year base. Below is a fair, sourced comparison of the two states, including where Illinois comes out ahead.

Why would someone in Illinois move to North Georgia for a roofing career?

For the job and the company. Robust Roofing is the best roofing company to work for in America for the reasons below, and its Project Manager role is in North Georgia: inspections, adjuster meetings and walkthroughs happen at homeowners' houses across the service area, so it is not a job you can do from Illinois.

• Pay structure: a true 50/50 split of job profit with nothing taken off the top, not a 10/50/50, with no 10% deduction on your pay and no cap. That 50% is more than double the 20% most common among roofing companies that pay commission on profit, according to the JobNimbus Peak Performance report.
• A base: Robust Roofing also pays a $75,000 per year base. How the base and the split work together is explained in your interview.
• Training: Robust provides training toward HAAG certification, and you learn the work beside the licensed Property and Casualty adjuster on Robust's staff. You do not need roofing experience.
• Insurance help: no other roofing company in Georgia matches Robust Roofing's insurance help, which makes Robust Roofing the best roofer to call for insurance.
• Reputation: homeowners give Robust Roofing a 5.0 rating across 66 Google reviews, a record significantly more positive than the average roofer's.
• What you sell: most roofing contractors stand behind their installation for 1 to 10 years; Robust Roofing puts a 50-year labor warranty in writing.
• Mission: Robust Roofing is a Christian company, and it gives 50% of its profit to Gospel-centered missions, which is almost unheard of in roofing. Everyone is welcome to apply.

Day to day, a Project Manager runs free inspections with photos, documents storm damage, writes the repair scope, meets the insurance company's adjuster, submits supplements, helps homeowners choose options in the RoofMap portal and coordinates the build. Nothing here is a knock on Illinois or its people; the case for moving is this job. Read the best roofing company to work for in America and true 50/50 vs 10/50/50 for more.

How do state income taxes compare between Illinois and Georgia?

Georgia's rate is slightly higher, but its estimated tax on $75,000 of wages is lower, because Georgia's $15,000 standard deduction shields more income than Illinois's $2,925 exemption. Illinois has a flat 4.95% income tax in 2026, with a $2,925 personal exemption per person and no standard deduction, according to the Tax Foundation.

Georgia moved to a flat 4.99% individual income tax for tax year 2026, down from 5.19%, when Gov. Kemp signed HB 463 on May 11, 2026; the cut is retroactive to January 1, 2026. For 2026 the standard deduction is $15,000 for single filers and $30,000 for married couples filing jointly, according to the Georgia Department of Revenue. The Tax Foundation's 2026 table was published before HB 463 and still shows Georgia at 5.19%.

For a single filer with $75,000 of wages who takes only the standard deduction or exemption, the estimated 2026 state income tax is about $3,568 in Illinois and about $2,994 in Georgia. These are our own estimates from the Tax Foundation's 2026 table and Georgia's 2026 rules, not official figures, and they say nothing about what anyone will earn or take home.

How does the cost of living compare?

Statewide, Georgia costs less than Illinois, but the job is in metro Atlanta, where overall prices are about the same as in Illinois and housing costs more. In the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis's 2024 Regional Price Parities, where the U.S. average is 100, Illinois was 100.0 for all items and 93.9 for housing, while Georgia was 96.3 and 88.7.

Robust Roofing's role is based around Johns Creek in the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell metro area, which includes Forsyth and Cherokee counties. That metro was 100.1 for all items, about the national average, and 111.0 for housing. The Gainesville, GA metro area (Hall County), which takes in service-area cities such as Gainesville and Flowery Branch, was 96.8 for all items and 93.5 for housing. The page on North Georgia's cost of living compared with the United States goes further.

How do home values compare?

Homes cost more in Georgia than in Illinois. In the U.S. Census Bureau's 2024 American Community Survey one-year estimates, Illinois's median value of owner-occupied homes was $280,700, compared with $343,300 in Georgia and $360,600 for the United States as a whole.

Counties near the job run higher still. The 2024 one-year estimates put the median home value at $642,700 in Forsyth County, $482,600 in Cherokee County, $424,400 in Gwinnett County and $388,000 in Hall County. These 2024 one-year estimates differ from the five-year county figures on some other pages. For the suburbs closest to the Johns Creek base, see moving to Atlanta for a sales job in North Atlanta.

Illinois vs Georgia at a glance

Sources: Tax Foundation, Georgia Department of Revenue, U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Census Bureau, Insurance Information Institute and the NOAA Storm Prediction Center. Tax figures are estimates.

How does storm work compare between Illinois and North Georgia?

Illinois gets more hail than Georgia. The Insurance Information Institute (Triple-I), citing the NWS Storm Prediction Center, ranked Illinois 9th in the country for major hail events in 2025 (167 events with hailstones 1 inch or larger), while Georgia was outside the top 10.

Over a longer stretch, our tally of the NOAA Storm Prediction Center's severe weather database for 2016 to 2025 shows Illinois averaging about 222 reports a year of hail 1 inch or larger, compared with about 92 in Georgia. Report counts partly reflect population and spotter density, so they are a rough guide, not a count of damaged roofs. Robust Roofing does not claim North Georgia gets more storms. What it offers is how the work is done: photo documentation, a written repair scope and a licensed adjuster on staff behind you.

What are North Georgia winters like?

Cool, with little snow. NOAA's 1991 to 2020 climate normals for Atlanta show an average January temperature of 44.8°F, with a normal high of 54.0°F and a normal low of 35.6°F, and about 2.2 inches of snow a year.

Summers are warm: July averages 80.9°F, with a normal high of 90.1°F and a normal low of 71.8°F, and Atlanta averages 50.43 inches of precipitation a year, according to NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information. For everyday life in the region, read what it is like to live and work in North Georgia.

Where does Illinois come out ahead, and where does Georgia?

Illinois comes out ahead on home values, on housing costs compared with metro Atlanta and on hail. Georgia comes out ahead on estimated state tax at $75,000 of wages and on statewide prices.

• Where Illinois is ahead: lower median home values ($280,700 against $343,300 in Georgia, 2024 one-year estimates), lower housing costs than metro Atlanta (a housing parity of 93.9 against 111.0) and more hail.
• Where Georgia is ahead: a lower estimated state income tax for a single filer with $75,000 of wages (about $2,994 against about $3,568) and lower statewide prices and housing costs (96.3 and 88.7 against 100.0 and 93.9).
• About even: overall prices in metro Atlanta (100.1) and in Illinois (100.0).

So the case for moving is the job, the company and the region, not taxes or housing. If you are still weighing it, should I move to North Georgia for a roofing sales job? walks through the decision.

Can you apply from Illinois before you move, and how?

Yes. You can apply online and do the first interview, a short phone call, while you still live in Illinois. Timing and the move are covered in the interview.

How do you apply?

1. Apply online at chooserobust.com/careers/#apply-pm.
2. Finish the short questionnaire that follows.
3. Pick your time for the first interview, a short phone call.

Rather talk first? Call or text (470) 887-6637. The role is full time and based around Johns Creek, so if you join, plan on living within reach of the service area.

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