Project Manager Salary in Illinois 2026,
$103,470 Median | BLS Data by City

Illinois project managers earn a median $103,470 a year, $49.75 an hour, per BLS OEWS May 2025, with a full range of $65,300 at the 10th percentile to $163,910 at the 90th and a middle half between $81,000 and $132,360. The figure covers SOC 13-1082, Project Management Specialists, so it includes coordinators and delivery leads alongside people carrying the project manager title.

Peoria, at $123,730 — noticeably ahead of Chicago-Naperville-Elgin at $105,320. Decatur follows at $102,870, then Bloomington at $101,110 and Springfield at $100,030. Peoria's lead reflects heavy-equipment engineering and capital programme work concentrated in a small metro, which pulls the local median up in a way a large diversified market does not.

No. Illinois has no state board for project managers and the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation does not issue any project-management credential. What employers screen on instead is the PMP from the Project Management Institute, agile certifications such as the CSM or PMI-ACP, and domain evidence. Where the project is construction or engineering, the licence that matters belongs to the design professional of record, not to the project manager.

It helps at the top of the range and is neutral at the bottom. Illinois applies 4.95% to every dollar, so a PM at the 90th percentile of $163,910 keeps a larger share than they would in a graduated-rate state, while someone at the 10th percentile of $65,300 pays a higher effective rate than a graduated schedule would charge. No Illinois city adds a wage tax on top.

For most people, yes, despite Peoria's higher median. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin at $105,320 sits above the statewide median and offers the depth to move between insurance, banking, health systems, logistics and consulting without relocating. Peoria's $123,730 comes from a narrower employer base, which is excellent pay while the capital cycle is strong and a thin market when it is not.

Because the occupation code is broad and the state is not. SOC 13-1082 counts project coordinators and delivery specialists alongside senior project managers, and Illinois's location quotient of 0.65 shows the title is used less densely here than nationally. Chicago pulls the state figure up, but the downstate metros — with the exception of Peoria — cluster right around $100,000, which anchors the statewide median close to the US line.

The wage row is a close match rather than an exact one. Illinois employers use the project manager title for jobs that BLS files under management analysts, computer occupations and construction managers, and each of those has its own wage distribution. If your role is a software delivery manager at a Chicago bank, or a construction PM on a capital job, the 13-1082 median is a floor reference rather than a market rate for your specific seat.

Owning money and vendors rather than only a schedule. The step from $103,470 to $132,360 in Illinois is almost always the point where the role acquires vendor contracts, a capital budget and multiple dependent workstreams. In practice that means a programme role at a Chicago insurer or health system, or a capital programme downstate, and it is usually accompanied by a bonus component that OEWS does not capture at all.