Earn more in Chicago.
The 2026 income operating system for Chicago professionals: live salary benchmarks across 20 roles, side hustles matched to your skills, a free ATS check on your CV, and a private Monday brief that wraps it all into one weekly editorial.
Chicago market: Chicago is the largest US tech hub between the coasts, with a strong financial services anchor (CME, Citadel, Discover) and growing remote-friendly tech employer base. Salaries sit ~15% below NYC for finance-adjacent tech roles.
Chicago salaries · live medians
20 role salary benchmarks for Chicago
Each report combines a live Adzuna pull with our calibrated percentile band. Tap any role to see the 25/50/75 split, market context and side-income opportunity tailored to Chicago.
Software Engineer
Median benchmark: $91,500
Senior Software Engineer
Median benchmark: $120,500
Staff Engineer
Median benchmark: $178,000
Frontend Engineer
Median benchmark: $86,500
Backend Engineer
Median benchmark: $95,500
Full-stack Engineer
Median benchmark: $91,500
DevOps Engineer
Median benchmark: $108,000
ML Engineer
Median benchmark: $127,000
Data Analyst
Median benchmark: $70,000
Senior Data Analyst
Median benchmark: $95,500
Data Scientist
Median benchmark: $99,000
Data Engineer
Median benchmark: $108,000
Product Manager
Median benchmark: $99,000
Senior Product Manager
Median benchmark: $139,500
Product Designer
Median benchmark: $86,500
Marketing Manager
Median benchmark: $76,000
Sales Manager
Median benchmark: $89,000
Customer Success Manager
Median benchmark: $70,000
Financial Analyst
Median benchmark: $76,000
Credit Risk Analyst
Median benchmark: $82,500
Side hustles · Chicago
Earn extra income from Chicago this month
Most of these can be done remotely from Chicago alongside a full-time job. We rank skills by realistic hourly rate and the depth of the contract market in 2026.
React side hustles
£55–£110/hr · Adzuna · Toptal
Next.js side hustles
£60–£120/hr · Adzuna · Vercel community
TypeScript side hustles
£60–£110/hr · Adzuna · YunoJuno
Python side hustles
£50–£100/hr · Adzuna · Toptal
AI / LLM engineering side hustles
£80–£200/hr · Adzuna · Toptal
DevOps / SRE side hustles
£70–£140/hr · Adzuna · YunoJuno
Product design side hustles
£45–£95/hr · Adzuna · Dribbble Pro
UX research side hustles
£55–£120/hr · Adzuna · Contra
Technical writing side hustles
£35–£85/hr · Adzuna · Contra
Data analysis side hustles
£50–£95/hr · Adzuna · YunoJuno
Data engineering side hustles
£70–£130/hr · Adzuna · YunoJuno
Product management side hustles
£65–£130/hr · Adzuna · Contra
SEO side hustles
£40–£110/hr · Adzuna · Contra
Growth marketing side hustles
£60–£130/hr · Adzuna · Contra
Paid media side hustles
£55–£120/hr · Adzuna · Contra
Copywriting side hustles
£40–£120/hr · Adzuna · Contra
Video editing side hustles
£30–£100/hr · Adzuna · Contra
Translation / Localisation side hustles
£30–£90/hr · Adzuna · ProZ
Other cities · United States
More guides for United States
Other countries
Same brief, different market
The whole Chicago brief, in one weekly email.
Salary, side hustles and CV polishing — your private Monday brief, tuned to Chicago pay norms and the global remote contract market. Cancel anytime.