Side by side

Austin vs Chicago

Pay is effectively the same — the medians sit within 2.9% apart. Demand is comparable on both sides. Listings for Chicago move faster — median age 41 days against 71.

Comparison

Side by side

MeasureAustinChicagoGap
Open postings49,65349,128+525
Posted this week3,1051,288
Median salary$89,500$87,000+$2.5k
25th percentile$70.5k$68.5k
75th percentile$111k$108k
Salary disclosed8.0%8.7%
Remote share6.0%9.1%-3.1pp
Median age of posting71d41d
Open over 60 days33.2%46.2%
Visa sponsorship16.9%10.4%
Pay

Pay distribution

Austin

$40k$155k

Chicago

$39k$151k
Freshness

How old the listings are

Austin

just posted71d median90d+

Chicago

just posted41d median90d+
Demand

What each side asks for

Austin — technologies

GCP
72.0%
JavaScript
65.8%
Node.js
59.6%
Tableau
53.4%
Airflow
47.2%
Salesforce
41.0%
Figma
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%

Austin — employers

Pinewood Education
9.4%
Tidewater Insurance
8.7%
Ironbark Manufacturing
8.0%
Solstice Biotech
7.2%
Beacon Robotics
6.5%
Fairmount Legal
5.8%
Cobalt Financial
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 Austin 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%.