Electrician Salary in Chicago, IL 2026,
$102,350 Median | BLS + Market Data

Chicago electricians earn a BLS MSA median of $102,350/yr, or $49.21/hr, with a published metro range of $49,890 to $124,070. That is 62% above the national figure — the largest metro premium for any trade covered here. Union scale on commercial and industrial work is the reason.

Yes, by 2.8%, and Chicago is what makes the Illinois statewide figure as strong as it is. Downstate residential and light commercial work pays far closer to national norms; the metro's negotiated commercial scale is the outlier.

Because commercial and industrial electrical work in this metro runs on negotiated union scale rather than on market rates set employer by employer. Journeyman scale here is among the highest in the country, and it applies across the large commercial, institutional and industrial project base. Residential work, which is much less unionised, sits near the $74,400 lower quartile.

Illinois regulates electrical contractors through the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, and individual electrician licensing is handled at municipal level rather than statewide — the City of Chicago runs its own supervising electrician and contractor registration. Most commercial electricians here come through a joint apprenticeship rather than an individual licence route.

Yes — electrician is one of the faster-growing skilled trades nationally at 9.5% over the projection decade, and locally that works out to roughly 1,900 openings a year. Data centre construction has been the strongest single source of demand at the top of the local pay band.

In most metros an electrician's pay reflects employer, sector and negotiation. In Chicago, commercial and industrial work is priced off negotiated scale, so a journeyman's base rate is largely the same across contractors. That lifts the entire upper half of the published band and produces a 62% premium over the national figure. What varies is hours: overtime on large projects is what separates the metro median from the $124,070 top.

Benefit and pension contributions negotiated alongside scale are substantial in this market and sit entirely outside the published wage. Per-diem and travel arrangements on large industrial projects are excluded too. On the other side, the estimate blends unionised commercial work with residential and non-union employment that operates on completely different economics.

Entry to the high-paying half of this market runs through a joint apprenticeship programme rather than through a licence examination. Those programmes are competitive and multi-year, and completing one is what gives access to journeyman scale. That barrier is why the metro's electrician concentration sits below the national average — the supply is deliberately controlled — and why the rate holds where it does.