Do carpenters make more in Kankakee or Chicago?

Kankakee pays more: the median is $95,280 in Kankakee and $80,440 in Chicago, a 18% difference.

Carpenter salary in Kankakee, IL

Updated September 27, 2026 with BLS data from May 2025

Carpenters in the Kankakee, IL area earn a median of $95,280 a year, or $45.81 an hour, according to May 2025 BLS data. One in ten earns more than $98,880. That's 21% more than the Illinois median of $79,000.

Median yearly pay$95,280

Bottom 10% under$47,730Top 10% over$98,880

Apprentice starting pay (estimate): $22.95/hr
Jobs in this area: 120
After cost of living: $98,840
Median hourly pay: $45.81/hr
vs U.S. median: +57%
vs Illinois median: +21%
Mean (average) pay: $82,070 a year · $39.46 an hour

Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (area 28100, Kankakee, IL). Excludes self-employed carpenters. Cost of living: BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024. *Starting pay is estimated from the 10th percentile; BLS does not report pay by license level.

Pay by percentile

What carpenters in Kankakee, IL earn at each point of the pay range, May 2025: 10% earn less than the 10th percentile, half earn less than the median, and 10% earn more than the 90th.

Percentile	Hourly	Yearly
10th percentile	$22.95	$47,730
25th percentile	$29.61	$61,600
Median (50th)	$45.81	$95,280
75th percentile	$47.54	$98,880
90th percentile	$47.54	$98,880

BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. BLS yearly figures are the hourly wage times 2,080 hours.

How Kankakee, IL compares

Kankakee has the highest carpenter median of the 12 Illinois metro areas with published pay.
Carpenters are less concentrated in the Kankakee area than nationally: 2.7 of every 1,000 jobs, 0.64 times the U.S. share.

Other Illinois metro areas

Other trades in Kankakee, IL

Electrician HVAC technician Welder Plumber Diesel mechanic Heavy equipment operator Auto mechanic

Questions

Do carpenters make more in Kankakee or Chicago?: Kankakee pays more: the median is $95,280 in Kankakee and $80,440 in Chicago, a 18% difference.

About this data

Wages are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for May 2025, occupation 47-2031 (Carpenters), area code 28100 (Kankakee, IL). BLS counts wage and salary workers only, so self-employed carpenters and business owners aren't included. The cost-of-living figure divides the median by the Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional Price Parity for 2024 (96.4, where the U.S. average is 100). Page updated September 27, 2026. How we calculate these figures