Side by side

Atlanta vs Chicago

Chicago pays more: a median of $87,000 against $81,500. There is 2.2× more demand for Chicago. Chicago is the more remote-friendly of the two, by 5.9%. Listings for Chicago move faster — median age 41 days against 64.

Comparison

Side by side

MeasureAtlantaChicagoGap
Open postings22,15749,128-26,971
Posted this week8361,288
Median salary$81,500$87,000$-5.5k
25th percentile$64.5k$68.5k
75th percentile$101k$108k
Salary disclosed8.5%8.7%
Remote share3.2%9.1%-5.9pp
Median age of posting64d41d
Open over 60 days44.1%46.2%
Visa sponsorship19.2%10.4%
Pay

Pay distribution

Atlanta

$37k$141k

Chicago

$39k$151k
Freshness

How old the listings are

Atlanta

just posted64d median90d+

Chicago

just posted41d median90d+
Demand

What each side asks for

Atlanta — technologies

Spark
72.0%
dbt
65.8%
Airflow
59.6%
HubSpot
53.4%
Go
47.2%
TypeScript
41.0%
Kubernetes
34.8%

Chicago — technologies

Go
72.0%
Azure
65.8%
GCP
59.6%
HubSpot
53.4%
Terraform
47.2%
Kotlin
41.0%
Java
34.8%

Atlanta — employers

Fairmount Legal
9.4%
Quarry Analytics
8.7%
Northwind Systems
8.0%
Halcyon Energy
7.2%
Umbra Security
6.5%
Ironbark Manufacturing
5.8%
Meridian Software
5.1%

Chicago — employers

Pinewood Education
9.4%
Brightline Retail
8.7%
Northwind Systems
8.0%
Lakeshore Hospitality
7.2%
Halcyon Energy
6.5%
Beacon Robotics
5.8%
Ironbark Manufacturing
5.1%

Track this slice

A weekly note when openings, pay or freshness move for Atlanta vs Chicago.

More comparisons

Other United States city comparisons

Both sides are counted the same way on the same day, so the gap is comparable even where the absolute numbers move. Salary figures use only postings that publish a range — the disclosure rate is in the table because a median over 20% of a cohort is a weaker number than one over 70%.