Ironworker salary in Chicago, IL-IN
Updated September 27, 2026 with BLS data from May 2025
Ironworkers in the Chicago–Naperville–Elgin, IL-IN area earn a median of $102,350 a year, or $49.21 an hour, according to May 2025 BLS data. The highest-paid 10% make over $124,530 a year. That's about the same as the Illinois median of $101,850.
- Apprentice starting pay (estimate)
- $31.07/hr
- Jobs in this area
- 2,120
- After cost of living
- $98,800
- Median hourly pay
- $49.21/hr
- vs U.S. median
- +63%
- vs Illinois median
- 0%
- Mean (average) pay
- $100,620 a year · $48.38 an hour
Pay by percentile
What ironworkers in Chicago, IL-IN 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 | $31.07 | $64,620 |
| 25th percentile | $40.21 | $83,630 |
| Median (50th) | $49.21 | $102,350 |
| 75th percentile | $58.54 | $121,760 |
| 90th percentile | $59.87 | $124,530 |
BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. BLS yearly figures are the hourly wage times 2,080 hours.
How Chicago, IL-IN compares
- Chicago has the highest ironworker median of the 8 Illinois metro areas with published pay.
- Ironworkers hold about the same share of jobs in the Chicago area as nationally: 0.5 of every 1,000 jobs.
Other Illinois metro areas
Other trades in Chicago, IL-IN
Questions
- Do ironworkers make more in Chicago or Rockford?
- Chicago pays more: the median is $102,350 in Chicago and $100,290 in Rockford, a 2% difference.
About this data
Wages are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for May 2025, occupation 47-2221 (Structural Iron and Steel Workers), area code 16980 (Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN). BLS counts wage and salary workers only, so self-employed ironworkers 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 (103.6, where the U.S. average is 100). Page updated September 27, 2026. How we calculate these figures