How much do Nuclear Engineers make in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN?

Percentile spread

For Nuclear Engineers, the published 10th percentile is $105,920 and the 90th percentile is $190,800. The difference is $84,880, which is 63.1% 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 $108,690 to the 75th at $164,750, covers $56,060.

The mean annual wage is $141,630, which sits above the median of $134,510. Median and mean measure different points in the same distribution.

National and state comparison

The Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN median is 0.4% higher than the national median of $133,970 for Nuclear Engineers. In 2024 national prices the local median is $129,842, which is 3.1% lower than that same national median. The national figure is already in national prices because the United States parity is 100.

It is about the same as the Illinois median of $134,510.

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 $134,510 by that parity and multiplying by 100 puts Nuclear Engineers at $129,842 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 Nuclear Engineers in the May 2025 tables. A wage from farther away is not filled in. When a wage is not published.

Employment share

Nuclear Engineers accounts for 0.02% of wage-and-salary employment in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN (710 of 4,513,280). Nationally the occupation is 0.01% of employment (15,280 of 155,495,730). The local share is 1.60 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.