Chicago, IL
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Chicago ranks 75th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 50th for income. A household earns $90,770 a year while median rent runs $1,469/mo, making it moderately affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 4% above the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is education (48th of 300), while commute is the soft spot (283rd). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 202nd and home prices 178th among the 300 metros CityLedger tracks.
For your salary & household
Enter your pay and household size to see what it's really worth here — the numbers update live and the link stays shareable.
On $75,000 for just you in Chicago, your take-home is worth about $55,602 once local prices are factored in — local prices stretch it less than the U.S. average.
Take-home estimates a single filer taking the standard deduction (2025 federal brackets, FICA, and state income tax) and isn't tax advice. “Real value” rebases take-home to average U.S. prices using the BEA cost-of-living index; the per-person figure uses the OECD square-root equivalence scale.
The numbers
Income & cost
- Median income
- 50th of 300↑20.4%$90,770
- Cost of living?The local price level vs. the U.S. average of 100 (BEA). Lower means cheaper. This is raw prices, not adjusted for income.
- 263rd of 300104 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $87,620
- Per-capita income
- $49,948
- Full-time pay
- $51,339
Housing
- Median rent
- 202nd of 300↑29%$1,469/mo
- Home value
- 178th of 300↑33.8%$339,700
- Property tax
- $6,461/yr · 1.9%
- Sales tax
- 8.89%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 240th of 3005.5%
- Bachelor's+
- 48th of 30043.1%
- Avg commute
- 283rd of 30030.9 min
People
- Population
- 9,406,924
- Population change
- -0.5%
- Median age
- 38.9 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 19.4%
- Broadband
- 93.7%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 278th of 30056
- Natural-hazard loss
- 121st of 300$11/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 127th of 30017.8%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 10.9%
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (ACS), U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. EPA, FEMA, CDC, NOAA — every figure's source is listed on our methodology page. Data built 2026-06-14. ↑↓ mark the change since 2019.
How CityLedger scores it
Transparent weights — see our methodology.
Strengths
- + Affordability
- + Household income
- + Education
Watch-outs
- – Cost of living
- – Rent
- – Job market
- – Commute
- – Air quality
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — chicago midway ap.
What jobs pay in Chicago
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $225,080
- IT managers
- $173,760
- Financial managers
- $168,810
- Lawyers
- $165,660
- Pharmacists
- $140,880
- Software developers
- $134,380
- General & operations managers
- $109,390
- Police officers
- $107,810
- Plumbers
- $103,380
- Electricians
- $102,350
- Registered nurses
- $100,490
- Civil engineers
- $100,160
- Secondary school teachers
- $98,970
- Web developers
- $96,870
- Accountants & auditors
- $82,360
- Carpenters
- $80,440
- Elementary school teachers
- $78,390
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $62,300
- Construction laborers
- $60,890
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $58,020
- Customer service reps
- $47,100
- Janitors
- $38,470
- Retail salespersons
- $35,820
- Cashiers
- $35,010
- Waiters & waitresses
- $31,200
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS 2025 — annual median wage. Cross-industry, all experience levels.
Where new residents move from
The states sending the most people to the Chicago metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in Illinois are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- California16,081
- Florida10,407
- Wisconsin9,947
- Texas9,046
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Chicago
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Chicago metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Chicago metro?
- Median gross rent across the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN Metro Area is $1,469 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Chicago.
- What is the median household income in the Chicago metro?
- A typical household in the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN Metro Area earns $90,770 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Chicago expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN Metro Area runs about 4% above the U.S. average (BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024) — prices are higher than average, before accounting for local pay.
- Does a paycheck go far in the Chicago metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $87,620 (versus its face value of $90,770). CityLedger rates the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN Metro Area moderately affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Chicago metro?
- The median home value across the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN Metro Area is $339,700 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Chicago metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN Metro Area is 5.5% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).