High-Paying Jobs Less Common In Chicago Than National Average: Study

Just over 1 in 149 jobs — or 0.67 percent — in the Chicago-Naperville metro pay more than $500,000, ADP reported in a recent analysis. Only 1 in roughly 556 jobs in the area pay over $1 million and a mere 1 in 2,000 jobs pay more than $2 million.

Nationally, about 1 in 127 jobs pay over $500,000, according to ADP.

“What’s striking is how many people in the United States earn exceptionally high salaries,” ADP reported.

“While just 0.79 percent of jobs in the country paid more than $500,000 per year, that’s well more than 1 million positions. This isn’t just a small handful of executives — it’s a substantial number of professionals found in every major metro across the country.”

ADP used adjusted anonymized payroll data based on administrative records to provide a view of top earners that is more detailed than the available government data.

The Chicago area ranked 21st out of 63 metros for percentage of jobs with high pay, according to ADP, falling directly below Minneapolis-St. Paul, where roughly 1 in 145 jobs pay over $500,000, and above the Pittsburgh area, where that number is about 1 in 152.

The top three metros for pay above $500,000 are San Francisco (1 in 48), Austin (1 in 86) and New York (1 in 93).