SB Honors is, on its own, better than other SUNYs for CS, so you indeed risk nothing; if it works well, you’re good… and if not, you’d likely try to transfer to other universities with better reputations and you’d still save money compared to your first 2 years at UIUC.
To understand how tax rates/brackets work:
Some taxes are uniform throughout the country: they pay for all the structures that make life possible in a developed country, the army, the various branches of government, everything that indirectly keeps the economy going and the country stable. (Countries that don’t have that… you really don’t want to live there: broken roads or mud roads or no roads at all, for instance, are a huge problem. Lack of broadband access also is. And of course a military that works for the country, not for the local potentate, is important. National, “federal” taxes are very important in developing national unity and pride, not to mention essential in developing national stability and power.) Think of it as patriotism. Or, as a comedian sorta put it “I lived life in the lowest tax bracket once, and now I’m living life in the highest, and I’d much rather be in the highest bracket.”
Then you have state taxes, which can be lower or higher, or nonexistent; 5-6% is pretty average. Finally, you have local taxes.
Take home pay is NEVER what you see; estimating about 30% is not going to you personally is a good rule of thumb.
If you move to a lower cost of living area, your salary follows. I picked Chicago because it’s a lower cost of living city, but higher COL than many areas. If you move to the Silicon Valley, COL is close to double that for the same things, so in real life you wouldn’t have the same comfort/same things. Of course if you move to non coastal California some aspects would be much cheaper than Chicago (housing, for instance). If you move to Texas, your salary would likely be in the 65-85k range. Salaries are local, to a certain extent: everyone offered a position at a certain company is paid the same, regardless of where they graduate from. It’s true that some positions will only be offered to UIUC graduates, but it doesn’t mean UIUC graduates are paid more for the same jobs as SB graduates.