Skilled Trades Wages in Illinois: What Employers Are Paying

The Offer That's Waiting for a Number

Your journeyman electrician candidate just texted at 8 a.m.: he's weighing your offer against a shop in Schaumburg and one in Rockford. He wants an answer by noon. You know Illinois trade wages lean high — Chicago's union density sees to that — but "leaning high" doesn't tell you whether $34/hr is the right number or whether you're $4 undercooked.

That's the problem this article solves. Below, you'll find a plain-English walkthrough of how Illinois skilled trades wages are structured, which trades run hottest statewide, how to think about the Chicago premium versus downstate reality, and how to turn BLS percentile data into an offer you can defend before noon.

One caveat up front: the Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes state- and metro-level wage data through its Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) program — that's the authoritative source for illinois skilled trades wages. Because those state and metro figures need to be pulled directly from the live OEWS tables at bls.gov/oes (state and metro cells update annually and vary by SOC code and sample size), this article points you to the right tables rather than risk printing a stale or incorrect local number. National medians from BLS, May 2024 are included for context and comparison. If the BLS May 2025 OEWS release has published by the time you're reading this, use that.

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Why Illinois Trade Wages Don't Have One Answer

Illinois is not one labor market. It is roughly three:

Metro Chicago (the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin MSA) is one of the most heavily unionized construction markets in the country. Union density in the building trades drives wages and benefits well above most comparable metros. If your shop is anywhere in Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry, or Will counties, you are competing in a market where the union scale sets the floor that non-union shops have to chase.

Collar counties and mid-size metros — Rockford, Peoria, Springfield, Champaign-Urbana — sit in a middle band. They're not Chicago, but they're not rural either, and they draw workers from both directions. Electricians and pipefitters in these areas may earn meaningfully less than their Chicago counterparts but meaningfully more than pure rural rates.

Downstate and rural Illinois rounds out the picture. Wages here can be close to national medians or below them, and some specialty-trade occupations have small enough local samples that BLS suppresses the metro estimate entirely. When that happens, the BLS guidance is to fall back to the state figure, then to the national figure. You'll see that pattern in the data.

Understanding which of these three markets you're actually in is step one before you set any offer. For a deeper look at metro-level data, see our Chicago skilled trades wages guide and our primer on what an MSA is and how metro wage data works.

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Trade-by-Trade Illinois Wage Snapshot

For each trade below, the national BLS May 2024 figure is shown as a reference point. The Illinois state median and Chicago MSA median must be confirmed at bls.gov/oes — navigate to the OEWS Data page, select the most recent May release, choose Illinois (state) or the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin MSA (metropolitan area), and look up the SOC code listed.

Electricians (SOC 47-2111)

Nationally, electricians earned a median of $62,350/yr (BLS, May 2024). The 10th percentile sat at $39,430 and the 90th percentile at $106,030 — a spread that illustrates just how wide experience and market can push pay.

Illinois electricians, particularly those in the Chicago metro, typically run above the national median because of union scale and strong commercial/industrial demand. Illinois employment and wages: bls.gov/oes → May 2024 release → Illinois → SOC 47-2111.

Nationally, electrician employment stands at 818,700 jobs (2024), growing at +9% through 2034 — roughly three times the economy-wide average (BLS OOH). That growth pressure is exactly why Chicago-area electrician candidates have leverage in a counter.

Plumbers, Pipefitters & Steamfitters (SOC 47-2152)

One important provenance note: BLS OEWS publishes one wage series for plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters under SOC 47-2152. There is no separate BLS wage row for pipefitters alone, even though the work differs. Any source showing different medians for plumbers versus pipefitters is not drawing from OEWS. For a deeper look at the occupation, see our pipefitter salary guide.

Nationally, the median for this combined group was $62,970/yr ($30.27/hr) (BLS, May 2024). Illinois and Chicago MSA figures: bls.gov/oes → SOC 47-2152.

With 504,500 jobs nationally and +4% projected growth (BLS OOH), demand is steady — and Chicago's industrial and high-rise construction pipeline keeps local demand elevated relative to most states.

HVAC Mechanics & Installers (SOC 49-9021)

National median: $59,810/yr (BLS, May 2024); 10th percentile $39,130; 90th percentile $91,020. National job count: 425,200, growing at +8% through 2034 (BLS OOH).

Illinois HVAC demand is heavily seasonal — summer cooling load and winter heating load both drive service-call volume — which creates tight labor markets in peak seasons. That seasonal pressure can push effective compensation above base wages when overtime is factored in. Illinois and Chicago MSA medians: bls.gov/oes → SOC 49-9021.

Welders, Cutters, Solderers & Brazers (SOC 51-4121)

National median: $51,000/yr (BLS, May 2024); 10th percentile $38,130; 90th percentile $75,850. National employment: 457,300 jobs, +2% growth through 2034 (BLS OOH).

Welding pay in Illinois varies significantly by sector: structural and pipe welders serving heavy industrial facilities (particularly in the I-80 corridor and Joliet area) can sit at very different points than production welders in manufacturing. Confirm Illinois welding wages at bls.gov/oes → SOC 51-4121.

Carpenters (SOC 47-2031)

National median: $59,310/yr ($28.51/hr) (BLS, May 2024). National employment: 959,000 jobs, +4% growth through 2034 (BLS OOH).

Illinois carpenter wages, like most union-dense markets, can run notably above the national median in the Chicago metro. Residential versus commercial framing also creates a split within the occupation that the BLS OEWS blended figure will not show — the occupation code covers both. Illinois and MSA figures: bls.gov/oes → SOC 47-2031.

Sheet Metal Workers (SOC 47-2211)

National median: $60,850/yr ($29.26/hr) (BLS, May 2024). National employment: 127,000 jobs, +2% growth through 2034 (BLS OOH).

Sheet metal is heavily organized in the Chicago market, which tends to push wages and benefits packages well above national medians. Illinois and Chicago MSA figures: bls.gov/oes → SOC 47-2211.

Structural Iron & Steel Workers (SOC 47-2221)

National median: $62,700/yr (BLS, May 2024); 10th percentile $42,000; 90th percentile $107,520 (BLS OOH). Approximately 7,000 annual openings nationally.

Ironworking in Illinois is closely associated with Chicago's high-rise and bridge construction sectors. Local wages are almost certainly above the national median, but confirm at bls.gov/oes → SOC 47-2221 for the Illinois and Chicago MSA cells.

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How to Read Percentiles When You're Making an Offer

A percentile is simply a rank in the earnings distribution. The BLS 75th percentile for a trade means 75% of workers in that occupation nationally earn less than that figure — and 25% earn more. Here's how to use the tiers practically:

• 10th percentile → entry-level, limited experience, no specialty certification. Suitable for first-year apprentices or helpers.
• 25th percentile → early journeyman with a solid base but still building specialty skills.
• Median (50th percentile) → the midpoint. Half earn less, half earn more. The right anchor for a solid journeyman in a competitive but not frenzied market.
• 75th percentile → experienced journeyman or specialist in demand. Where you go when the candidate has a counter and you want to close without a bidding war.
• 90th percentile → master-level, highly specialized, or in a market with genuine supply shortage. Use carefully — it resets expectations for the whole crew.

In Illinois, the union scale in Chicago effectively means many journeymen expect wages that sit at or above the 75th percentile of the national distribution. If you're benchmarking against national medians alone, you may consistently underbid.

For a step-by-step walkthrough of building a full min/midpoint/max salary band from OEWS percentiles, see our skilled trades wage benchmarking guide.

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The Chicago Premium — and What It Means Downstate

The Chicago effect on illinois skilled trades wages is real and measurable — though you'll need to pull the live MSA figure to quantify it for your trade. The underlying drivers are straightforward:

Union density. The Chicago regional council agreements for the building trades set wage scales that non-union shops must partially match to compete for experienced workers. The gap between union scale and non-union prevailing wage is often smaller than employers expect, because the market enforces it.

Project scale and complexity. High-rise commercial, hospital, and infrastructure projects in and around Chicago demand certifications and experience levels that push workers toward the upper percentiles of their occupation's wage distribution.

Cost of living. Chicago's housing and commuting costs mean a worker who might accept a lower nominal wage in Carbondale needs more to make the same life work in Elmhurst.

Downstate, the calculus shifts. Peoria and Springfield employers often find candidates who are willing to work for wages closer to national medians — but who may also travel toward Chicago if the gap widens too much. That regional mobility means downstate employers aren't fully insulated from the Chicago market; they just feel it with a lag.

For context on how another major industrial market structures its trade wages, see our New York skilled trades wages guide.

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Turning the Data Into an Offer

Here's a worked example anchored on a real library figure. Suppose you're hiring a journeyman electrician in a competitive Illinois market and you want to build a salary band. You start with the national BLS May 2024 median of $62,350/yr as a floor anchor (your state/MSA figure from bls.gov/oes will be your real anchor — this is for method illustration):

• Band minimum (entry-level journeyman): $62,350 × 0.90 = ~$56,115/yr
• Band midpoint (target for a solid, experienced journeyman): $62,350 — your anchored median
• Band maximum (top of range, used to close a competitive counter): $62,350 × 1.15 = ~$71,703/yr

The spread buffer (±10–15% around the median anchor) is a common methodology for building a defensible band. Once you have the Illinois or Chicago MSA median from bls.gov/oes, substitute that figure for $62,350 and the math is identical. The band gives you a principled answer to a counter — not a gut feel.

One important caution: BLS OEWS figures are annual wage estimates, not guaranteed rates. They are the best available labor-market signal, not a pay compliance standard. Always verify any local prevailing wage or certified payroll requirements separately if your projects are public-works or Davis-Bacon covered.

For a full walkthrough of this methodology across multiple trades, see our trade wage data hub.

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Get Illinois Trade Wages in Your Workflow

Pulling state and metro OEWS tables manually — navigating to bls.gov/oes, finding the right release, matching the SOC code to your trade, downloading the tab-delimited file, and extracting the percentile you need — takes time you probably don't have when a candidate is waiting on a number.

SkilledMarkets wraps the BLS OEWS data and O*NET occupational profiles into a single workflow built for trade contractors: look up any trade SOC code, select your state or metro, see the full percentile spread, and generate an offer-ready salary band — all without touching a spreadsheet. Plans start at $199/mo, and there's a 14-day free trial so you can run your first Illinois trade lookup before you commit.

Start your free trial and run your first Illinois wage lookup →

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This article includes information from ONET OnLine, developed by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration. ONET is a registered trademark of the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration.