Chicago vs. Los Angeles
Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers. Median, spread and buying power, side by side.
Data released May 2025
BLS OEWS · SOC 33-3051
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 13.1% higher — but after local prices, Los Angeles still leads by 3.2%.
Chicago's median $107,810 buys $104,100 at national prices (price parity 103.6); Los Angeles's $121,980 buys $107,400 (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 | 22,680 | 24,720 | +9.0% |
| 10th percentile | $63,450 | $78,870 | +24.3% |
| 25th percentile | $86,630 | $98,180 | +13.3% |
| Median | $107,810 | $121,980 | +13.1% |
| 75th percentile | $107,810 | $126,080 | +16.9% |
| 90th percentile | $123,130 | $127,880 | +3.9% |
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
- Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers in Chicago · Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers 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.