Chicago · United States
Software Engineer salary in Chicago
The median salary in Software Engineer job ads in Chicago, United States is $167,500 a year (about $13,958 a month before tax). The middle half of those ads list $158,500 to $198,000, based on 13 salaries from 10 employers, updated 11 Nov 2026.
Official benchmark · U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Software Developers: official pay in the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN metro area, May 2025
In the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN metro area, software developers (SOC 15-1252) earned a median $134,380 a year in May 2025, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics; pay listed in 13 job ads for Chicago jobs on Jobiba from the last 12 months has a median of $167,500.
- 10th percentile
- $83,820
- 25th percentile
- $104,530
- Median
- $134,380
- 75th percentile
- $167,650
- 90th percentile
- $203,410
Jobiba's job-ad median is 25% above the BLS median.
Occupation: Software Developers (SOC 15-1252) · 40,370 jobs · per year, before tax. Annual wages of all wage and salary workers in the occupation in the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN metropolitan statistical area, all industries and employer sizes (self-employed excluded) — not only jobs that are advertised. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (metropolitan area data) (public domain), retrieved 1 Nov 2026.
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- Median in job ads
- $167,500
- a year
- 12-month range
- High $163,000
- Oct 2026
- Low $163,000 · Oct 2026
- Salaries
- 13
- from 10 employers
- Last updated
- 11 Nov 2026
- 12-month window to 11 Nov 2026
Salary range
Where pay sits in Chicago
- 10th percentile
- $136,100
- 25th percentile
- $158,500
- Median
- $167,500
- 75th percentile
- $198,000
- 90th percentile
- $216,900
13 salaries · 25 live local jobs. Box: the middle half of salaries · line: the median · whisker: 10th to 90th percentile.
Compared with the United States median of 2,984 salaries: down −19.3%
Based on 13 salary-listed job postings from the last 12 months · last updated 11 Nov 2026
Pay listed by employers
Latest Software Engineer jobs that show their pay in Chicago
Pay as the employer wrote it, per year: individual job posts, not averages.
- Software EngineerSimplex Trading · Mid level · posted 8 Nov 2026$125,000 – $200,000
- 2027 Software Engineering Summer InternGCM Grosvenor · Entry level · posted 7 Nov 2026$75,000 – $80,000
- Lead Software EngineerHarris Associates · Senior level · posted 7 Nov 2026$165,000 – $200,000
- Software Engineer IIHome Chef · posted 7 Nov 2026$125,000 – $140,000
- Senior C++ Software EngineerBelvedere Trading · Senior level · posted 6 Nov 2026$175,000 – $250,000
Evidence
Where these numbers come from
13 salaries from 10 employers, posted between 11 Nov 2025 and 11 Nov 2026. Last updated 11 Nov 2026. Every figure on this page comes from this one group of salaries; the median is the middle value, not the average.
- Employer hiring-system feeds 100%
Frequently asked questions
Software Engineer salary in Chicago: common questions
What is the average Software Engineer salary in Chicago in 2026?
In the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN metro area, software developers (SOC 15-1252) earned a median $134,380 a year in May 2025, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics; pay listed in 13 job ads for Chicago jobs on Jobiba from the last 12 months has a median of $167,500. The middle half of those job ads pay between $158,500 and $198,000 a year (25th to 75th percentile).
How does Software Engineer pay in Chicago compare with the United States median?
The Software Engineer median in Chicago is -19.3% versus the United States median for the same role on Jobiba.
How does Jobiba calculate Software Engineer salary in Chicago?
From 13 salary-listed Jobiba job postings from the last 12 months that state an explicit salary, currency and pay period. Hourly, daily and monthly pay is converted to an annual figure, implausible values and outliers are removed, and currencies are never mixed or converted. Jobiba publishes the median and 25th–75th percentile range only when enough comparable postings exist.