Side-by-side distribution
Illinois
$105,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 57.7%
- Live roles
- 3,154
Seattle
$179,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 76.9%
- Live roles
- 3,265
Highest-paying jobs
Sales Leader, Quality Engineering Services
Co-Founder & CEO - AI Retail Planning Autopilot
Electronics Engineering Technician
Strategic Account Executive - Chicago (Remote)
Director / VP Sales
Psychiatrist (MD / DO)
Preschool Teacher / Lead Teacher
Dentist
Employment Law Attorney
Psych Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP, Psych APRN)
Highest-paying jobs
Education Market Leader I
S&T Market Leader I
Mid-Market Customer Success Manager, North America
Account Manager
Co-Founder & CEO - AI Retail Planning Autopilot
Research Engineer, Visual Knowledge Work
Performance Engineer, Inference Systems
Engineering Manager, GPU (ML Accelerator)
Staff Research Engineer, Discovery Team
Research Engineer, Computer Use
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Gotion, Inc.
|
$100,000 | 88 |
Okta
|
$214,000 | 70 |
The Symicor Group
|
$100,000 | 49 |
Real Chemistry
|
$123,750 | 40 |
NoGigiddy
|
$43,680 | 36 |
Optiver
|
$200,000 | 34 |
Tricoci University
|
$44,720 | 34 |
Metropolis
|
$115,000 | 29 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Fluidstack
|
$217,500 | 256 |
Brex
|
$216,000 | 143 |
Anduril Industries
|
$193,000 | 120 |
|
Anthropic
|
$362,500 | 119 |
DoorDash USA
|
$161,300 | 112 |
OpenAI
|
$307,500 | 71 |
| AX Axon | $184,421 | 62 |
DigitalOcean
|
$188,100 | 56 |
Highest-paying roles in Illinois
| Role | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| UX Designer | $167,250 | 4 |
| DevOps | $161,000 | 48 |
| Software Engineer | $151,250 | 125 |
| Sales | $132,500 | 553 |
| Data Scientist | $131,250 | 6 |
| Customer Success | $130,845 | 378 |
| Product Manager | $127,500 | 285 |
| Marketing Manager | $122,000 | 198 |
| Project Manager | $115,000 | 186 |
| Recruiter | $110,125 | 228 |
Highest-paying roles in Seattle
| Role | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Software Engineer | $207,500 | 833 |
| Data Scientist | $193,000 | 65 |
| DevOps | $192,250 | 82 |
| UX Designer | $181,250 | 30 |
| Sales | $180,000 | 717 |
| Product Manager | $176,400 | 609 |
| Recruiter | $168,935 | 321 |
| Customer Success | $167,500 | 632 |
| Project Manager | $156,900 | 222 |
| Nurse | $151,450 | 22 |
Illinois vs Seattle: which pays more?
The median for Illinois is $105,000 per year (typically $67,500–$160,219), versus $179,000 for Seattle ($130,605–$225,000). That puts Seattle about 70% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Illinois and Seattle 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.