Chicago Not Among 2022’s Best Paying Cities: U.S. News

CHICAGO — Millions of people in the United States abandoned their jobs during the coronavirus pandemic in search of a career with better benefits and, in some cases, more lucrative pay. If you’re considering a similar change, Illinois does not rank among several U.S. cities where you’ll get paid more for your work, but it does pay well in certain vocations.

U.S. News & World Report on Tuesday released 2022’s Best Paying Cities, a list that ranks U.S. cities where workers employed in the country’s 100 highest-paying jobs make more than workers in other cities in the same occupation.

While Chicago did not rank this year’s list of best-paying cities, it was among four Illinois cities — along with Kankakee, Rockford and Champaign — that placed jobs in the top paying professions across the city.

Here’s a look at the top five highest-paying jobs in Illinois according to data compiled by U.S. News from the Bureau of Labor Statistics:

Chicago

• Psychologist: $118,500
• Anthropologist: $82,830
• Archeologist: $82,830
• Construction Worker: $66,670
• Plumber: $91,940
• Structural Iron and Steelworker: $83,900
• Wind Turbine Technician: $59,440
• Garbage Collector: $63,870

Kankakee

• Cement Mason and Concrete Finisher $74,670
• Construction Worker $65,730
• Electrician $88,530
• Plumber $93420
• Sheet Metal Worker: $91,140

Rockford

• Cement Mason and Concrete Finisher $78,320
• Structural Iron and Steelworker $90,160

Champaign

• Sports Coach, $84,440

Cities in California dominated this year’s list of highest-paying cities. In all, California cities comprise 12 of the top 20 cities.

Here are the top 10 highest-paying cities, according to this year’s list:

1. San Francisco, California

2. San Jose, California

3. New York, New York

4. Vallejo, California

5. Santa Rosa, California

6. Seattle, Washington

7. Sacramento, California

8. Los Angeles, California

9. Bridgeport, Connecticut

10 Washington, D.C.

The 2022 list of highest-paying cities annually accompanies the release of U.S. News’ Best Jobs rankings.

To calculate this year’s best jobs, U.S. News looked at data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to identify jobs with the greatest hiring demand. Jobs are then scored in seven areas: 10-year growth volume, 10-year growth percentage, median salary, employment rate, future job prospects, stress level and work-life balance.

Read more about U.S. News’ methodology for compiling this year’s list.

At a time when health care is more critical than ever, jobs in that sector dominate this year’s list — 4 out of every 10 of the top 100 highest-paying jobs are in health care or related roles.

The rankings offer a look at the best jobs across 17 lists — from sectors such as business and technology — to help job seekers at every level achieve their career goals. They take into account the most important aspects of a job, including growth potential, work-life balance and salary.

Information security analyst captured the No. 1 spot this year, followed by nurse practitioner at No. 2, physician assistant at No. 3 and medical and health services manager at No. 4.