I scraped and charted this thread — here's what 926 r/chicago salaries look like.
I will update again later this week. I am a data scientist and this analysis was created with Claude code in about 5 minutes.
Data updated 7/22/2026 9:30AM CST
All graphs here: https://imgur.com/a/lgdPla7
Caveats: this is a self-selected Reddit sample, not a real wage
survey. It skews toward salaried professionals, probably over-reports high
earners, and a few joke entries snuck through. Salary/age/sex/education are
whatever people typed. Ranges (e.g. "58–68k") became midpoints, hourly got
annualized.
Reports: 926 (796 had age, 720 had sex, 761 had education)
The headline: median ~$106k
| Statistic |
Value |
| Reports (n) |
926 |
| Minimum |
$22,000 |
| 25th percentile |
$77,250 |
| Median |
$106,000 |
| Mean |
$135,804 |
| 75th percentile |
$150,000 |
| Maximum |
$900,000 |
Right-skewed — a dense core between ~$60k and $160k with a long high-earner tail
(doctors, lawyers, execs, senior tech/sales) that drags the mean ~$30k above the median.
Chart: salary distribution histogram — https://imgur.com/5q2c5jX
By sector
| Sector |
n |
Median |
Mean |
| 🌭 Hot Dog Vendor |
1 |
$313,000 |
$313,000 |
| Tech / IT |
114 |
$139,000 |
$177,342 |
| Sales / Marketing |
87 |
$125,000 |
$144,764 |
| Engineering (non-software) |
43 |
$120,000 |
$144,493 |
| Legal |
37 |
$120,000 |
$176,162 |
| Management / Exec |
165 |
$120,000 |
$144,478 |
| Insurance / lending |
6 |
$109,300 |
$120,100 |
| Finance / Accounting |
92 |
$108,500 |
$143,662 |
| Skilled trades |
34 |
$108,500 |
$121,206 |
| Government / Public |
18 |
$106,500 |
$110,058 |
| Arts / Media |
33 |
$102,000 |
$124,352 |
| Healthcare |
63 |
$100,000 |
$146,550 |
| HR / people ops |
7 |
$90,000 |
$102,143 |
| Other / Unclassified |
89 |
$85,000 |
$119,190 |
| Supply chain / logistics |
15 |
$83,000 |
$100,733 |
| Education |
50 |
$82,500 |
$86,680 |
| Science / Research |
14 |
$73,500 |
$83,214 |
| Social services / Nonprofit |
14 |
$70,500 |
$77,714 |
| Service / Retail / Admin |
44 |
$63,000 |
$74,169 |
Roughly a 2× spread top to bottom. Legal, tech, and finance have the widest upper
tails; skilled trades and engineering cluster more tightly. And yes, one guy
reported "Hot dog vendor, 313k" — he gets his own category (and his own hot dog on
the chart 🌭).
Chart: Salary by sector — https://imgur.com/ynyvQTz, https://imgur.com/ZDPQVoG
By age (used as an experience proxy — people rarely stated YoE)
| Age band |
n |
Median |
Mean |
| <25 |
32 |
$84,500 |
$86,150 |
| 25–29 |
204 |
$90,000 |
$108,322 |
| 30–34 |
237 |
$110,000 |
$144,326 |
| 35–39 |
184 |
$125,000 |
$155,267 |
| 40–44 |
85 |
$118,000 |
$140,547 |
| 45–49 |
33 |
$135,000 |
$160,667 |
| 50+ |
21 |
$171,000 |
$173,002 |
Climbs with age — but the linear trend is weak (salary rises ~$2.5k/yr of age,
R² ≈ 0.03). The spread at any given age is way bigger than the trend; sector and
role matter far more.
Chart: salary vs age scatter with linear trendline — https://imgur.com/sqRfne8
By education
| Education |
n |
Median |
Mean |
| MBA |
29 |
$185,000 |
$183,448 |
| Professional (MD/JD/etc.) |
36 |
$177,000 |
$230,667 |
| Trade school |
7 |
$115,000 |
$87,971 |
| Bachelor's |
428 |
$105,000 |
$128,839 |
| Master's |
135 |
$105,000 |
$131,654 |
| High school / none |
51 |
$100,000 |
$116,946 |
| PhD |
29 |
$97,000 |
$136,259 |
| GED |
3 |
$92,000 |
$92,000 |
| Associate / Some college |
43 |
$90,000 |
$109,607 |
MBA and MD/JD lead. A bachelor's already hits a $105k median here. PhDs land
lower — an artifact of how many are in academia/science roles.
Chart: salary by education boxplot — https://imgur.com/FsYpnbY
Reported gender gap
| Sex |
n |
Median |
Mean |
| F |
285 |
$94,000 |
$106,928 |
| M |
435 |
$120,000 |
$156,572 |
Men reported a ~22% higher median. That's partly a pay gap and partly
composition — men are over-represented in the high-paying tech/finance/legal
reports here, women in education/healthcare/social services. Not a like-for-like compare.
Chart: median by age band + sex — https://imgur.com/ZXAM7bt
