Side-by-side distribution
Chicago
$135,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 67.9%
- Live roles
- 4,537
Massachusetts
$125,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 68.9%
- Live roles
- 3,125
Highest-paying jobs
Regional Health Market Leader - Great Lakes Region
Sales Leader, Quality Engineering Services
Account Manager
Outside Sales Representative
Co-Founder & CEO - AI Retail Planning Autopilot
Director / VP Sales
Senior Account Executive, Emerging Enterprise
Senior Account Executive, Emerging Enterprise
Strategic Account Executive - Chicago (Remote)
Licensed Mental Health Therapist- Illinois
Highest-paying jobs
Director of Annual Giving: JFund
Co-Founder & CEO - AI Retail Planning Autopilot
Strategic Account Executive - Boston (Remote)
Vice President of Enterprise Sales, East
Psychiatrist (MD / DO)
Area Vice President, Strategic Sales
Sr. Staff Program Manager & Chief of Staff, Operations
Psych Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP, Psych APRN)
Machine Learning Research Engineer (LLMs & AI Systems)
Staff Field Application Engineer
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
DoorDash USA
|
$130,200 | 107 |
|
Okta
|
$213,750 | 75 |
|
Braze
|
$140,000 | 69 |
| DR DRW | $177,500 | 57 |
IMC
|
$212,500 | 48 |
Insomniacookies
|
$35,412 | 42 |
Real Chemistry
|
$123,750 | 40 |
Optiver
|
$200,000 | 39 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Anduril Industries
|
$193,000 | 157 |
Formlabs
|
$130,000 | 85 |
| AX Axon | $184,275 | 76 |
|
JCC Greater Boston
|
$39,260 | 70 |
The Trustees of Reservations
|
$39,520 | 61 |
Centria Autism
|
$50,960 | 58 |
Datadog
|
$154,250 | 52 |
Professional Physical Therapy
|
$95,000 | 49 |
Highest-paying roles in Chicago
| Role | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Software Engineer | $170,000 | 377 |
| Data Scientist | $163,000 | 30 |
| DevOps | $160,000 | 97 |
| UX Designer | $158,750 | 20 |
| Customer Success | $145,000 | 793 |
| Product Manager | $142,500 | 609 |
| Financial Analyst | $141,250 | 200 |
| Sales | $136,000 | 1,119 |
| Recruiter | $132,900 | 410 |
| Marketing Manager | $129,000 | 425 |
Highest-paying roles in Massachusetts
| Role | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Software Engineer | $172,750 | 357 |
| DevOps | $169,192 | 68 |
| Customer Success | $152,500 | 472 |
| Product Manager | $150,000 | 321 |
| Recruiter | $145,000 | 311 |
| Data Scientist | $143,754 | 46 |
| UX Designer | $142,649 | 7 |
| Financial Analyst | $130,250 | 50 |
| Sales | $128,720 | 616 |
| Project Manager | $125,000 | 189 |
Chicago vs Massachusetts: which pays more?
The median for Chicago is $135,000 per year (typically $90,000–$180,000), versus $125,000 for Massachusetts ($75,000–$176,725). That puts Chicago about 8% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Chicago and Massachusetts are compared on equal terms regardless of the currency each role was originally posted in. Only roles that publish a salary range feed the medians; numbers refresh every few hours as new roles post and older ones close, so this comparison reflects the market right now rather than a fixed survey. Use it as a directional benchmark when weighing one path against the other.