Chicago vs. Los Angeles
Securities, Commodities, and Financial Services Sales Agents. Median, spread and buying power, side by side.
Data released May 2025
BLS OEWS · SOC 41-3031
Fig. 1 — Side by side
Both distributions, one scale
10th to 90th percentile, median struck in red
Table 1 — Adjusted
Chicago's median is 22.4% higher — but after local prices, Chicago still leads by 29.2%.
Chicago's median $100,760 buys $97,300 at national prices (price parity 103.6); Los Angeles's $78,160 buys $68,800 (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 | 24,080 | 21,050 | −12.6% |
| 10th percentile | $50,980 | $50,670 | −0.6% |
| 25th percentile | $67,380 | $60,340 | −10.4% |
| Median | $100,760 | $78,160 | −22.4% |
| 75th percentile | $160,890 | $127,340 | −20.9% |
| 90th percentile | $211,260 | $171,550 | −18.8% |
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
- Securities, Commodities, and Financial Services Sales Agents in Chicago · Securities, Commodities, and Financial Services Sales Agents 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.