Chicago vs. Los Angeles
Sales Representatives of Services, Except Advertising, Insurance, Financial Services, and Travel. Median, spread and buying power, side by side.
Data released May 2025
BLS OEWS · SOC 41-3091
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 12.4% higher — but after local prices, Los Angeles still leads by 2.5%.
Chicago's median $70,710 buys $68,300 at national prices (price parity 103.6); Los Angeles's $79,450 buys $70,000 (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 | 55,730 | 50,470 | −9.4% |
| 10th percentile | $39,570 | $43,340 | +9.5% |
| 25th percentile | $49,540 | $52,250 | +5.5% |
| Median | $70,710 | $79,450 | +12.4% |
| 75th percentile | $100,790 | $104,230 | +3.4% |
| 90th percentile | $154,540 | $152,940 | −1.0% |
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
- Sales Representatives of Services, Except Advertising, Insurance, Financial Services, and Travel in Chicago · Sales Representatives of Services, Except Advertising, Insurance, Financial Services, and Travel 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.