Chicago vs. Los Angeles
Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary. Median, spread and buying power, side by side.
Data released May 2025
BLS OEWS · SOC 11-9032
Fig. 1 — Side by side
Both distributions, one scale
10th to 90th percentile, median struck in red
Table 1 — Adjusted
Los Angeles's median is 25.5% higher — but after local prices, Los Angeles still leads by 14.5%.
Chicago's median $128,780 buys $124,300 at national prices (price parity 103.6); Los Angeles's $161,590 buys $142,300 (113.6).
Table 2 — The figures
Point by point
Published percentiles for both metros; the last column is Los Angeles against Chicago.
| Chicago | Los Angeles | Δ | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Employment | 11,050 | 10,310 | −6.7% |
| 10th percentile | $79,680 | $104,260 | +30.8% |
| 25th percentile | $100,250 | $129,820 | +29.5% |
| Median | $128,780 | $161,590 | +25.5% |
| 75th percentile | $137,200 | $170,310 | +24.1% |
| 90th percentile | $171,540 | $202,660 | +18.1% |
Sources
How this page was made
- Wage data
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 release. Public domain.
- Price parity
- Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities, 2024.
- Full pages
- Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary in Chicago · Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary in Los Angeles
Percentiles are reported exactly as released. Derived (price-adjusted) figures round to the nearest hundred. We take no payment for how any figure is presented.