How much do Materials Scientists make in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN?

Percentile spread

For Materials Scientists, the published 10th percentile is $93,240 and the 90th percentile is $197,910. The difference is $104,670, which is 78.5% of the median. Ten percent of measured wages fall below the 10th percentile and ten percent fall above the 90th. How to read a percentile.

The middle half of the distribution, from the 25th percentile at $104,350 to the 75th at $174,110, covers $69,760.

The mean annual wage is $140,350, which sits above the median of $133,340. Median and mean measure different points in the same distribution.

National and state comparison

The Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN median is 13.2% higher than the national median of $117,790 for Materials Scientists. In 2024 national prices the local median is $128,713, which is 9.3% higher than that same national median. The national figure is already in national prices because the United States parity is 100.

It is 6% higher than the Illinois median of $125,850.

Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN covers more than one state. The state comparison uses Illinois, the primary state on the BLS area record.

Price-adjusted pay

The 2024 all-items regional price parity for Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN is 103.595, with the United States at 100. The Bureau of Economic Analysis released those parities on February 19, 2026. Dividing the May 2025 median of $133,340 by that parity and multiplying by 100 puts Materials Scientists at $128,713 in national prices. The wage year and the price year are different. Compare this wage after prices.

Nearby metros

No other metropolitan area within 200 miles has a published annual median for Materials Scientists in the May 2025 tables. A wage from farther away is not filled in. When a wage is not published.

Employment share

Materials Scientists accounts for 0.01% of wage-and-salary employment in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN (460 of 4,513,280). Nationally the occupation is 0.01% of employment (8,470 of 155,495,730). The local share is 1.87 times the national share. That ratio is the location quotient computed from these May 2025 employment counts. It is not copied from the location-quotient column in the BLS bulk file.