Chicago vs. Los Angeles
General and Operations Managers. Median, spread and buying power, side by side.
Data released May 2025
BLS OEWS · SOC 11-1021
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 15.0% higher — but after local prices, Los Angeles still leads by 4.9%.
Chicago's median $109,390 buys $105,600 at national prices (price parity 103.6); Los Angeles's $125,830 buys $110,800 (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 | 122,930 | 104,610 | −14.9% |
| 10th percentile | $58,000 | $62,400 | +7.6% |
| 25th percentile | $76,900 | $83,200 | +8.2% |
| Median | $109,390 | $125,830 | +15.0% |
| 75th percentile | $175,170 | $187,480 | +7.0% |
| 90th percentile | $298,090 | $299,990 | +0.6% |
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
- General and Operations Managers in Chicago · General and Operations Managers 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.