Chicago vs. Houston
First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers. Median, spread and buying power, side by side.
Data released May 2025
BLS OEWS · SOC 35-1012
Fig. 1 — Side by side
Both distributions, one scale
10th to 90th percentile, median struck in red
Table 1 — Adjusted
Chicago's median is 14.6% higher — but after local prices, Chicago still leads by 10.3%.
Chicago's median $42,650 buys $41,200 at national prices (price parity 103.6); Houston's $36,410 buys $36,900 (98.6).
Table 2 — The figures
Point by point
Published percentiles for both metros; the last column is Houston against Chicago.
| Chicago | Houston | Δ | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Employment | 30,180 | 31,290 | +3.7% |
| 10th percentile | $32,150 | $23,870 | −25.8% |
| 25th percentile | $36,880 | $29,810 | −19.2% |
| Median | $42,650 | $36,410 | −14.6% |
| 75th percentile | $57,130 | $48,700 | −14.8% |
| 90th percentile | $68,000 | $62,140 | −8.6% |
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
- First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers in Chicago · First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers in Houston
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.