Northwest Illinois nonmetropolitan area Salaries
BLS nonmetropolitan reporting area wages for Northwest Illinois nonmetropolitan area (May 2025)
Registered Nurses shows the widest metro-area vs national median gap in Northwest Illinois nonmetropolitan area
Registered Nurses publishes $79,580 here versus $97,550 nationally (-18.4%; 2,340metro-area jobs). Next is General and Operations Managers at $87,770 locally versus $105,770 nationally (-17.0%).
- Registered Nurses$79,580 in Northwest Illinois nonmetropolitan area sits 18.4% below the national Registered Nurses median of $97,550 (2,340 published local jobs).
- General and Operations Managers$87,770 in Northwest Illinois nonmetropolitan area sits 17.0% below the national General and Operations Managers median of $105,770 (3,450 published local jobs).
- Maintenance and Repair Workers, General$54,530 in Northwest Illinois nonmetropolitan area sits 10.0% above the national Maintenance and Repair Workers, General median of $49,590 (2,110 published local jobs).
- Retail Salespersons$33,190 in Northwest Illinois nonmetropolitan area sits 6.3% below the national Retail Salespersons median of $35,410 (2,610 published local jobs).
Registered Nurses and the other occupations above are descriptive OEWS endpoints for Northwest Illinois nonmetropolitan area; they are not findings about taxes, employers, or worker experience.
BLS OEWS metro wage desk
MSA 1700001 · Northwest Illinois nonmetropolitan area $58K mean
MEAN-LOW · RPP-UNK · OCC-MID · TOP-LEAD · EMP-MIX · TREND-UNK · PHOTO-FINISH · BOOK-FULL
- MEAN-LOW #266/528
- RPP-UNK RPP n/a
- OCC-MID 325 occs
- TOP-LEAD Physicians, Al… · $415K
- EMP-MIX First-Line S…
- TREND-UNK Pay chg n/a
- PHOTO-FINISH Chattanooga, TN-GA
- BOOK-FULL 321 rows · May 2025
Read with Chattanooga, TN-GA (+$35 on published-row mean) · Understanding BLS wage data
Instrument codes from this MSA’s OEWS published-row mean, BEA RPP, occupation book, employment lead, All Occupations pay change, and nearest peer, not a moving recommendation.
Published-row mean neighbourhood around Northwest Illinois nonmetro…
Largest published OEWS rows in this nonmetropolitan area
First-Line Supervisors of Construction Trades and Extraction Workers and Financial Managers lead published employment inside Northwest Illinois nonmetropolitan area's top-pay sample, order follows OEWS job counts, not median wage.
- 1. First-Line Supervisors of Construction Trades and Extraction Workers 690 jobs · $101,800
- 2. Financial Managers 650 jobs · $129,280
- 3. Industrial Production Managers 400 jobs · $124,950
- 4. Sales Managers 330 jobs · $127,700
- 5. Medical and Health Services Managers 330 jobs · $104,120
- 6. Managers, All Other 260 jobs · $129,580
- 7. Lawyers 240 jobs · $104,110
- 8. First-Line Supervisors of Correctional Officers 200 jobs · $107,990
- 9. Software Developers 200 jobs · $103,910
- 10. Nurse Practitioners 190 jobs · $134,310
- 11. Computer and Information Systems Managers 180 jobs · $135,300
- 12. Architectural and Engineering Managers 170 jobs · $159,510
- 13. Pharmacists 160 jobs · $138,680
- 14. Marketing Managers 160 jobs · $135,900
- 15. Physicians, All Other 150 jobs · $414,640
- 16. Human Resources Managers 150 jobs · $128,820
- 17. Veterinarians 80 jobs · $105,590
- 18. Electrical Engineers 80 jobs · $102,960
Occupations Tracked
325
with wage data
Published-Row Mean
$57,871
employment-weighted, 321 complete rows
Top Salary
$414,640
Physicians, All Other
Top-pay occupations in Northwest Illinois nonmetropolitan area, by employment
Same top-pay sample as the salary ranking, sorted by published local jobs so the title sequence follows the OEWS mix.
| # | Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | First-Line Supervisors of Construction Trades and Extraction Workers | $101,800 |
| 2 | Financial Managers | $129,280 |
| 3 | Industrial Production Managers | $124,950 |
| 4 | Sales Managers | $127,700 |
| 5 | Medical and Health Services Managers | $104,120 |
| 6 | Managers, All Other | $129,580 |
| 7 | Lawyers | $104,110 |
| 8 | First-Line Supervisors of Correctional Officers | $107,990 |
| 9 | Software Developers | $103,910 |
| 10 | Nurse Practitioners | $134,310 |
| 11 | Computer and Information Systems Managers | $135,300 |
| 12 | Architectural and Engineering Managers | $159,510 |
| 13 | Pharmacists | $138,680 |
| 14 | Marketing Managers | $135,900 |
| 15 | Physicians, All Other | $414,640 |
| 16 | Human Resources Managers | $128,820 |
| 17 | Veterinarians | $105,590 |
| 18 | Electrical Engineers | $102,960 |
| 19 | Electrical Power-Line Installers and Repairers | $110,930 |
| 20 | Dentists, General | $223,580 |
| 21 | Chief Executives | $234,030 |
| 22 | Physician Assistants | $136,410 |
| 23 | Purchasing Managers | $131,180 |
| 24 | Computer Network Architects | $102,030 |
| 25 | Family Medicine Physicians | $278,820 |
Lowest Paying Jobs in Northwest Illinois nonmetropolitan area
| Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|
| Driver/Sales Workers | $31,200 |
| Cashiers | $31,200 |
| Amusement and Recreation Attendants | $31,200 |
| Animal Caretakers | $31,200 |
| Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop | $31,200 |
| Dishwashers | $31,200 |
| Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers | $31,200 |
| Waiters and Waitresses | $31,200 |
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | $31,200 |
| Bartenders | $31,200 |
Other BLS Wage Areas in IL
Other metropolitan or nonmetropolitan OEWS areas assigned to the same state. Cross-state pay and employment peers live in Nationwide similar metros below.
Nationwide metros with similar published-row mean pay or employment scale
Two OEWS peer sets outside IL. Same-state wage areas above stay geographic; these neighborhoods are cross-state nearest neighbors on employment-weighted published-row mean wage ($57,871 here) and summed published employment.
Similar mean wage
Nearest other metros by employment-weighted published-row annual mean wage.
Similar employment scale
Nearest headcount peers (floor 100,000 summed published jobs), distinct from the mean-wage column.
Peers are nearest-neighbor matches on BLS OEWS employment-weighted published-row mean wage and summed occupation employment. Employment peers exclude metros already listed in the mean-wage column so the two link sets stay distinct. Mean wage here is not a worker-level median.
Frequently Asked Questions
What average wage does BLS publish for this nonmetropolitan area? ▼
What is the highest paying job in Northwest Illinois nonmetropolitan area? ▼
What jobs pay the least in Northwest Illinois nonmetropolitan area? ▼
Where do these nonmetropolitan wage rows come from? ▼
Related federal data
What to do with this data
How to use Northwest Illinois nonmetropolitan area wage figures in a real decision
- Physicians, All Other leads published medians in Northwest Illinois nonmetropolitan area at $414,640/year; open the occupation for percentile bands and state rows. Physicians, All Other
- Northwest Illinois nonmetropolitan area's employment-weighted published-row mean is $57,871 across 321 occupation rows with employment estimates. Understanding BLS data
- Compare this nonmetropolitan area against the statewide occupation table for IL before treating one geography as the other. State wage page
BLS OEWS estimates reflect the May 2025 reference period; small occupation-area cells can be suppressed, and figures are not employer offers.
Source data and WageDex calculations are identified in context on this page. Occupation rows use BLS OEWS May 2025. The local-area benchmark is WageDex's employment-weighted mean of published occupation means; where BEA RPP is available, the price-level figure divides that benchmark by the published area parity. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.