Real Wage

City guide · Figures as of 23 Oct 2026

What a job in Chicago really pays per hour

At the typical local salary of $73,380, a full-time office job you reach by public transit pays $21.14 for each hour it actually takes, not the $35.28 the salary suggests. Done fully remotely, the same job pays $26.93 an hour.

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The local figures

Typical salary$73,380 a year (BLS mean annual wage, Chicago metro, May 2025)
Effective tax rate22.4% at that salary
Public transit$5.00 a day in CTA fares, 99 minutes round trip
Driving$5.09 a day in gas, plus $16.15 parking; 62 minutes round trip
Other job costsAbout $50 a week at five office days and $18 when remote (estimates)

Every figure is sourced at the bottom of this page.

Four ways to do the same job

The same salary and 40 paid hours a week, with no unpaid overtime. Only where you work and how you get there change.

SetupReal hourly wageJob costs a yearCommuting a year
Office five days, by transit$21.14$3,900429 hours
Office five days, by car$20.79$8,122269 hours
Office two days, by transit$24.35$2,122172 hours
Fully remote$26.93$9360 hours

Commuting by transit five days a week costs $1,300 a year in fares and takes 429 hours, about 54 eight-hour days. Going in two days a week instead gives back 257 hours and lifts the real wage to $24.35.

Driving instead of taking transit costs $4,222 more a year and gives back 160 hours, so the real wage by car is lower: $20.79 against $21.14 by transit.

What an office job here has to pay

For a five-day office job reached by transit to pay as much per hour as a fully remote job at $73,380, it would need a salary of about $92,085: $18,705, or 25%, more. By car, it would need about $91,963.

This uses the same effective tax rate for both salaries. Extra salary is usually taxed at a higher marginal rate, so the real break-even is somewhat higher. How the break-even salary works.

Where these numbers come from

Figures are in USD. Round-trip times are average one-way commutes doubled. Driving assumes 14.4 miles each way at 27.2 miles per gallon unless noted. The methodology explains the method and its limits.

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