Dermatologist Salary in Chicago, IL 2026,
$435,750 Median | BLS + Market Data

Chicago dermatologists earn a BLS median of $435,750/yr across the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin metro, with a published band from $148,550 to $538,180. That is 32.6% above the US median for the speciality — one of the widest premiums this metro shows for any occupation. BLS does not publish a metro employment count for dermatologists in this area.

The two figures are the same. BLS publishes an identical statewide median for Illinois, so there is no metro premium to report here — the state's dermatology workforce is concentrated in this region to the point that the metro and statewide estimates converge on the same value. Among peer metros Chicago sits well above San Antonio at $336,030, Atlanta at $284,630, Charlotte at $276,170, Denver at $273,320 and San Diego at $233,370.

Yes, and it is one of two things separating the top of this band from its very flat middle. Cosmetic procedures are paid directly by patients rather than reimbursed by insurers, so pricing is set by the practice and by what the local market will bear — and the North Side, the North Shore and the western suburbs support a substantial cosmetic market. The other is Mohs micrographic surgery, which requires an additional fellowship and combines surgical and pathological work in a single session. Both reach toward the $538,180 at the top of this published range.

The licence is general rather than speciality-specific: the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation issues a Physician and Surgeon licence through its Medical Board. Dermatology sits on top of it — a medical degree, a preliminary or transitional year, a three-year accredited dermatology residency, and board certification through the American Board of Dermatology. Mohs surgeons complete a further fellowship. Residency places in dermatology are among the most competitive in medicine nationally, which is the real gate rather than licensure. Illinois licenses statewide.

Two reasons, one about the speciality and one about the metro. Dermatology nationally has a supply constraint — residency places are few and the speciality is heavily oversubscribed — so wages run high wherever demand is concentrated. And this metro has an unusual density of affluent patient populations able to sustain cosmetic and elective procedural practice alongside medical dermatology. The combination produces a median a third above the national figure. It also produces long waits for general medical dermatology appointments across the region, which is the same fact seen from the patient's side.

The 25th percentile, the median and the 75th percentile in this record sit at essentially one value, with the range coming from a low 10th percentile at $148,550 and a high 90th at $538,180. That is not a data error; it is what a distribution looks like when a large share of a small workforce is paid at a similar market rate. For dermatology in this metro, that reflects a well-established going rate for board-certified medical dermatology, with the variation confined to those below it — academic and part-time appointments — and those above it, meaning proceduralists and owners. Practically, the median here is a very good estimate for a typical employed post.

BLS publishes wage percentiles for dermatologists in this area but not an employment figure, which happens when the estimate does not meet publication criteria for reliability or confidentiality. It is a limitation worth stating plainly rather than papering over: this page can describe what dermatologists here are paid but cannot say how many there are, and it therefore cannot pro-rate national openings to a local share. The roughly 400 openings a year quoted in this record's outlook is the national total for the speciality, presented as such.

Dermatology across the country, and visibly across this metro, has seen substantial acquisition of independent practices by backed platform groups. The effect on the figures here is genuinely uncertain and worth flagging rather than asserting. Employed dermatologists in consolidated groups appear in wage data as salaried employees, which improves coverage of the speciality in OEWS; owners exiting to a platform convert future practice income into a capital event that never appears in any wage series. So the published band may describe employed dermatology increasingly well while describing total dermatologist income increasingly poorly. Anyone using this page to evaluate a partnership-track offer should hold that in mind.