I have made the decision finally to trans to male. I'm happy with my decision. I'm unsure to what extent I will trans, but I'm 100% sure I want my breasts gone.
The look of my new chest isn't as important to me as most people having a mastectomy. Meaning, I have no desire to keep my nipples and I don't mind how much and where the scarring is. I feel like that fact should be able to save me some money while finding a surgeon I can afford.... I can't afford much though and assuming my insurance won't cover it, I need to do some digging to find a pleasant experience with this. I'm looking for a doctor in Illinois to perform the procedure as that's where I reside. The more I look online for price ranges the more confused I am. I see some saying that at average it would cost $3k and some sites say average would be upwards of $12k. Does anyone know how I can better go about this? I feel like given my expectations, It shouldn't cost too much. (I want to stress, I still want someone who is licensed and knows what they're doing)

Surgery is not something to skimp on - it's your body, your stuck with it forever. With the said, I paid 8k for mine, and the results are excellent (I can provide a pic if you like). My insurance did not cover it either. Unfortunately I am not sure about Doctors where you live as I do not live in that state. My insurance did not cover it, but you could look into financing options. I do know of Doctors in your budget, but they are not in your state.

Top surgery pricing varies depending on where you go. This page has average pricing listed by surgeon.

There are some excellent surgeons in the Chicago area who do top surgery, like Dr. Schechter. You can find surgeons with this map.