Anesthesiologist Salary in Illinois 2026,
$391,490 Median | BLS Data by City

BLS does not publish an Illinois median for this occupation. The state cell for SOC 29-1211 is suppressed in OEWS May 2025, which BLS does where publication could disclose an identifiable establishment or where the estimate fails reliability standards. The best available figure is the national median of $391,490 a year, or $188.22 an hour, and it should be read as a national number rather than an Illinois one.

OEWS suppresses cells on disclosure and reliability grounds. If publishing a state and occupation combination could reveal an identifiable employer's wages, or if the supporting sample is too thin to meet BLS standards, the cell is withheld. Illinois's 1,570 anesthesiologists are concentrated across a limited number of large health systems and physician groups, so either condition could apply. The suppression is statistical, not a judgement about the market.

A published metro median that should not be read as a market wage. It sits below even the national 10th percentile of $101,460, which for a metropolitan area containing several major academic medical centres is only explicable as a composition artefact: residents and fellows are counted as employed physicians on the same SOC row as attendings, and where they dominate the sample the reported median collapses toward training stipends. Peoria and Rockford are not published at all.

Yes. Illinois participates in the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact, which provides an expedited licensure route for board-certified physicians already licensed in another participating state and meeting the eligibility criteria. It is not a multistate licence — a separate Illinois licence still issues through the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation — but the process is faster than a standard application. Hospital credentialing follows and is frequently the longer part of the timeline.

As a national benchmark with Illinois context attached. The percentile ladder — $207,000 at the 25th percentile through $490,530 at the 75th — is national and is a defensible negotiating reference anywhere. The genuinely Illinois-specific facts are the employment of 1,570 at a 1.04 location quotient, the IDFPR licensing route with compact eligibility, and a flat 4.95% state income tax with no municipal layer, which at these incomes is a material advantage over most comparable states.

Because the alternative is the exact error that makes salary data untrustworthy. A page that presented $391,490 as an Illinois figure would be wrong in a way the reader could not detect, and the temptation to do so is obvious — a national number is available and it looks like a state number. OEWS withholds this cell because publishing it would risk disclosing an identifiable employer's wages or because the sample is too thin to meet reliability standards, and either way the honest response is to say what the figure is and is not. The percentile ladder remains useful; it is just national.

Because $77,770 is below the national 10th percentile for the occupation, and Chicago-Naperville-Elgin contains several of the largest academic medical centres in the Midwest. A metro median that low is a statement about sample composition rather than about the market: anaesthesiology residencies are large, residents are counted as employed physicians under SOC 29-1211, and where they dominate a metro's sample the reported median approaches training compensation. This site publishes the figure because it is what BLS released, and flags it because presenting it without comment would mislead. No attending anesthesiologist in Chicago should treat it as a reference point.

Three. Licensure runs through IDFPR with Interstate Medical Licensure Compact eligibility, which shortens the timeline for a board-certified physician already licensed elsewhere — and the licence must issue before credentialing can begin. The tax position is favourable at high incomes: a flat 4.95% state rate with no municipal layer anywhere in Illinois, which compares well against progressive-rate states and against Michigan's city taxes. And the care team model matters: Illinois regulates certified registered nurse anesthetists through the same department, and how a facility staffs its anaesthesia service affects both the number of anesthesiologist positions and the supervisory structure of the work.