Chicago vs. Houston
Maintenance and Repair Workers, General. Median, spread and buying power, side by side.
Data released May 2025
BLS OEWS · SOC 49-9071
Fig. 1 — Side by side
Both distributions, one scale
10th to 90th percentile, median struck in red
Table 1 — Adjusted
Chicago's median is 19.5% higher — but after local prices, Chicago still leads by 15.4%.
Chicago's median $58,020 buys $56,000 at national prices (price parity 103.6); Houston's $46,710 buys $47,400 (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 | 45,710 | 32,050 | −29.9% |
| 10th percentile | $36,870 | $31,620 | −14.2% |
| 25th percentile | $45,070 | $38,580 | −14.4% |
| Median | $58,020 | $46,710 | −19.5% |
| 75th percentile | $72,100 | $60,460 | −16.1% |
| 90th percentile | $82,320 | $76,210 | −7.4% |
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
- Maintenance and Repair Workers, General in Chicago · Maintenance and Repair Workers, General 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.