Chicago vs. Los Angeles
Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop. Median, spread and buying power, side by side.
Data released May 2025
BLS OEWS · SOC 35-9031
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 16.4% higher — but after local prices, Los Angeles still leads by 6.2%.
Chicago's median $31,720 buys $30,600 at national prices (price parity 103.6); Los Angeles's $36,920 buys $32,500 (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 | 13,390 | 15,340 | +14.6% |
| 10th percentile | $31,200 | $35,000 | +12.2% |
| 25th percentile | $31,200 | $35,870 | +15.0% |
| Median | $31,720 | $36,920 | +16.4% |
| 75th percentile | $36,190 | $43,040 | +18.9% |
| 90th percentile | $45,260 | $46,060 | +1.8% |
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
- Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop in Chicago · Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop 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.