Changing Compensation Costs in the Chicago Metropolitan Area — March 2025

Compensation costs for private industry workers increased 3.2 percent in the Chicago-Naperville, IL-IN-WI Combined Statistical Area (CSA) for the year ended March 2025, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Acting Regional Commissioner Julie Wilson noted that one year ago, Chicago experienced an annual gain of 4.3 percent in compensation costs. (See chart 1 and table 1.) Nationwide, compensation costs rose 3.4 percent in March 2025.

Locally, wages and salaries, the largest component of compensation costs, advanced at a 3.1-percent pace for the 12-month period ended March 2025. (See chart 2.) Nationwide, wages and salaries rose 3.4 percent over the same period.

Chicago is 1 of 15 metropolitan areas in the United States and 1 of 3 areas in the Midwest region of the country for which locality compensation cost data are available. Among these 15 largest areas, over-the-year percentage changes in compensation costs ranged from 7.5 percent in Houston-The Woodlands to 1.1 percent in Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Port St. Lucie in March 2025; for wages and salaries, Minneapolis-St. Paul registered the largest increase (5.7 percent), and Miami registered the smallest (1.2 percent). (See chart 3.)

The annual increase in compensation costs in Chicago was 3.2 percent in March 2025, compared to 5.7 percent in Minneapolis-St. Paul and 4.6 percent in Detroit-Warren-Ann Arbor, the two other metropolitan areas in the Midwest. Chicago's 3.1-percent gain in wages and salaries over this 12-month period compared to 5.7 percent in Minneapolis and 3.8 percent in Detroit. (See table 2.)

The Employment Cost Index for June 2025 is scheduled to be released on Thursday, July 31, 2025, at 8:30 a.m. (ET).

Technical Note

Locality compensation costs are part of the national Employment Cost Index (ECI), which measures quarterly changes in compensation costs (wages and salaries and employer costs for employee benefits) free from the influence of employment shifts among occupations and industries. More information can be found in the national Employment Cost Index Technical Note. For information on survey concepts, coverage, methods, nonresponse adjustment, and imputation see the National Compensation Measures Handbook of Methods.

In addition to the data presented here, ECI national data by industry, occupational group, and union status, as well as data for civilian, private, and state and local government employees, are available on the Employment Cost Index website. The national Employment Cost Index Summary is also available online. Additional information for regions, states, and local areas may be accessed via our Midwest Information Office regional homepage.

The substate area data published in this news release reflect the Office of Management and Budget Bulletin No. 13-01, dated February 28, 2013. See the Classification Systems Used by the National Compensation Survey for more information on available geographies.

The Chicago-Naperville, IL-IN-WI Combined Statistical Area (CSA) includes Bureau, Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, Lake, Lake, LaSalle, McHenry, Putnam, and Will Counties in Illinois; Jasper, Lake, LaPorte, Newton, and Porter Counties in Indiana; and Kenosha County in Wisconsin.

Information in this release will be made available to individuals with sensory impairments upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1.

Table 1. Employment Cost Index for total compensation and for wages and salaries, private industry workers, United States, Midwest Census region, and the Chicago area, not seasonally adjusted

Area	Total compensation				Wages and salaries
	12-month percent changes for period ended-				12-month percent changes for period ended-
	Mar.	Jun.	Sep.	Dec.	Mar.	Jun.	Sep.	Dec.
United States
2021	2.8	3.1	4.1	4.4	3.0	3.5	4.6	5.0
2022	4.8	5.5	5.2	5.1	5.0	5.7	5.2	5.1
2023	4.8	4.5	4.3	4.1	5.1	4.6	4.5	4.3
2024	4.1	3.9	3.6	3.6	4.3	4.1	3.8	3.7
2025	3.4				3.4
Midwest
2021	2.3	3.1	3.8	4.6	2.2	3.3	4.1	5.1
2022	5.1	5.7	5.8	5.0	5.5	6.0	6.0	5.0
2023	4.5	4.3	3.8	3.7	4.6	4.4	3.9	4.0
2024	3.9	3.6	3.6	3.3	4.2	3.7	3.7	3.3
2025	3.3				3.2
Chicago-Naperville
2021	3.1	2.7	4.0	4.0	3.3	3.0	4.4	4.1
2022	3.9	5.3	4.8	4.4	3.8	5.1	4.6	4.4
2023	3.8	4.1	4.2	4.1	3.5	4.2	4.1	4.1
2024	4.3	3.7	3.1	2.7	4.4	3.5	3.1	2.7
2025	3.2				3.1

Table 2. Employment Cost Index for total compensation and for wages and salaries, private industry workers, United States, Census regions, and localities, not seasonally adjusted

Area	Total compensation			Wages and salaries
	12-month percent changes for period ended-			12-month percent changes for period ended-
	Mar. 2024	Dec. 2024	Mar. 2025	Mar. 2024	Dec. 2024	Mar. 2025
United States	4.1	3.6	3.4	4.3	3.7	3.4
Northeast	3.8	3.3	3.3	3.9	3.5	3.6
Boston-Worcester-Providence	3.2	2.6	3.6	3.5	2.6	3.7
New York-Newark	4.1	2.8	3.0	4.2	3.0	3.2
Philadelphia-Reading-Camden	2.8	3.6	3.3	3.0	4.0	3.4
South	4.3	3.3	3.3	4.6	3.4	3.3
Atlanta-Athens-Clarke County-Sandy Springs	4.4	4.8	3.6	5.1	5.4	3.7
Dallas-Fort Worth	3.5	3.6	4.4	3.8	3.4	4.5
Houston-The Woodlands	5.7	6.0	7.5	5.3	5.2	4.8
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Port St. Lucie	6.7	2.5	1.1	7.1	2.9	1.2
Washington-Baltimore-Arlington	4.5	3.7	2.6	5.1	3.9	2.5
Midwest	3.9	3.3	3.3	4.2	3.3	3.2
Chicago-Naperville	4.3	2.7	3.2	4.4	2.7	3.1
Detroit-Warren-Ann Arbor	3.4	4.5	4.6	3.6	3.8	3.8
Minneapolis-St. Paul	3.8	3.7	5.7	4.2	3.7	5.7
West	4.1	4.3	3.7	4.3	4.4	3.5
Los Angeles-Long Beach	4.4	4.2	4.1	4.5	4.3	4.4
Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale	2.7	2.8	3.4	2.8	2.8	3.2
San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland	4.4	6.3	3.8	4.7	6.6	3.5
Seattle-Tacoma	3.5	5.7	5.8	3.9	5.7	5.6