SalaryExplorer

SOC 11-3071 · May 2025 · BLS OEWS

Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Managers — Chicago

Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN · 7 metro areas compared

$124,120 /year
$59.68per hour
8,570jobs in area
+15.8%vs US median

The median wage for Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Managers in Chicago, IL is $124,120 per year, 15.8% above the national median of $107,230.

Wage distribution · annual

Shaded band holds the middle 50% of earners

US MEDIAN $107,23010TH$73,54025TH$94,920MEDIAN$124,12075TH$160,49090TH$210,910

How pay has moved

$131,358$87,9332019202020212022202320242025$124,120
$95,170 in 2019 to $124,120 in 2025, +30.4% before inflation. BLS states that OEWS estimates are not designed for comparison across years: the occupational classification, the sampling frame and the survey method have all changed inside this window. Read the direction, not the exact difference.

The next ten years

Projected to grow faster than average

Change in jobs, 2024 to 2034
+6.1%
Openings per year
18,500
Typical entry-level education
High school diploma or equivalent
Related work experience
5 years or more

Includes jobs opened by workers leaving the occupation, not only new positions.

Projections are published nationally only. This is the outlook for the occupation across the United States, not a measurement for Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN.

Projections are based on 2024 employment and run to 2034. The wages above are from the May 2025 survey, a separate BLS programme on a different release cycle, so the two are not two views of one dataset.

Salary overview

The median wage for Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Managers in Chicago, IL is $124,120 per year, 15.8% above the national median of $107,230. Pay ranges from under $73,540 at the tenth percentile to more than $210,910 at the ninetieth, with the interquartile range running from $94,920 to $160,490.

The area has 8,570 jobs in this occupation, which works out to 1.9 of every thousand jobs. Decatur leads the state's metro areas for this occupation, at $160,460. Set against every other occupation measured in the same area, it ranks 65th of 716 by median pay.

Percentile breakdown

Annual wages by percentile · Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN · May 2025
PercentileAnnualvs US median
10th$73,540−31.4%
25th$94,920−11.5%
Median (50th)$124,120+15.8%
75th$160,490+49.7%
90th$210,910+96.7%
Mean$133,210+24.2%

Why the average earner is usually not a typical earner

Other metro areas in Illinois

Median annual wage for Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Managers, by metro area
#Metro areaMedianJobsRelative
1Decatur$160,460110
2Peoria$120,250320
3Rockford$109,710210
4Kankakee$107,91040
5Champaign$101,400110
6Springfield$100,94080
7Bloomington$100,39080

What the pay is worth locally

Prices in Chicago run 3.6% above the national average, so the median of $124,120 buys what $119,807 would elsewhere in the country. Measured that way the gap against the national median narrows to 11.7% above the national median in real terms.

Published median

$124,120as reported by BLS

Local price level

103.6US average = 100 · BEA 2024

Adjusted for local prices

$119,807US average = 100 · BEA 2024

Why the state that pays most is usually not where pay goes furthest

Key takeaways

  • Median pay is $124,120 a year, 15.8% above the national median.
  • Published pay spans $73,540 to $210,910 between the tenth and ninetieth percentiles.
  • The area has 8,570 jobs in this occupation.
  • The highest-paying metro area covered is Decatur, at $160,460.

Frequently asked questions

What is the median wage for Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Managers in Chicago, IL?

The median annual wage is $124,120, or $59.68 per hour, as of May 2025. Half of the workers in this occupation earn more than that and half earn less.

Is that higher than the national average?

The national median for this occupation is $107,230, so pay in Chicago, IL is 15.8% higher. These figures are medians, not averages: half of workers fall on each side.

What do the top earners make?

The top tenth of this occupation in Chicago, IL earns more than $210,910 per year. The ninetieth percentile is the highest figure the survey publishes.

What is the starting range?

The tenth percentile wage is $73,540 per year. The survey measures wages actually paid rather than experience level, so this reflects the lowest-paid tenth rather than entry-level pay specifically.

Which area nearby pays the most?

The highest median for this occupation among the metro areas covered is in Decatur, at $160,460 per year.

How many jobs are there in this occupation here?

The survey estimates 8,570 jobs in this occupation in Chicago, IL. Self-employed workers are not included.

Source and methodology

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 Wages are for wage-and-salary workers; self-employed workers are not included. Salary Explorer is an independent project. It is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics or any government agency. Full methodology.