The highest paying job in Illinois is General Internal Medicine Physicians, with a median salary of $234,880 per year. Below is the complete ranking of the top 25 careers in IL based on 2024 Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
Data: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2024
Ranked by median annual salary. Click any job to see the full salary breakdown including percentile data and state-by-state comparisons.
| Rank | Occupation | Median Salary | Mean Salary | Workers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | General Internal Medicine Physicians | $234,880 | $255,550 | 1,660 |
| 2 | Dentists, All Other Specialists | $222,960 | $240,740 | 100 |
| 3 | Family Medicine Physicians | $220,260 | $206,010 | 1,540 |
| 4 | Physicians, All Other | $218,880 | $239,870 | 18,680 |
| 5 | Pediatricians, General | $207,740 | $216,290 | 1,340 |
| 6 | Dentists, General | $180,420 | $184,490 | 4,820 |
| 7 | Air Traffic Controllers | $175,090 | $156,590 | 1,000 |
| 8 | Computer and Information Systems Managers | $165,720 | $168,630 | 27,550 |
| 9 | Financial Manager | $159,990 | $177,310 | 53,400 |
| 10 | Natural Sciences Managers | $158,690 | $166,910 | 3,100 |
| 11 | Architectural and Engineering Managers | $157,480 | $161,530 | 9,030 |
| 12 | Lawyer | $157,320 | $177,740 | 33,430 |
| 13 | Marketing Manager | $154,480 | $158,900 | 21,670 |
| 14 | Sales Manager | $142,170 | $163,650 | 31,160 |
| 15 | Medical Dosimetrists | $140,780 | $144,140 | 100 |
| 16 | Purchasing Managers | $139,330 | $150,340 | 4,130 |
| 17 | First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives | $136,440 | $123,850 | 5,550 |
| 18 | Optometrists | $136,200 | $134,250 | 1,670 |
| 19 | Pharmacist | $135,880 | $136,050 | 12,450 |
| 20 | Computer and Information Research Scientists | $135,120 | $129,370 | 350 |
| 21 | Managers, All Other | $134,810 | $150,260 | N/A |
| 22 | Sociologists | $134,730 | $138,640 | N/A |
| 23 | Database Architects | $134,490 | $136,370 | 1,460 |
| 24 | Human Resources Manager | $134,320 | $151,940 | 13,700 |
| 25 | Computer Network Architects | $132,310 | $137,110 | 6,450 |
Average Salary in Illinois · All Illinois Jobs · Build Your Resume →
The top-paying careers in Illinois are concentrated in Healthcare Practitioners fields. The #1 job, General Internal Medicine Physicians, pays $162,859 more than the state average of $72,020 per year.
Among the top 25, the minimum median salary is $132,310, meaning all jobs on this list pay significantly above the national average.
See how Illinois's top salaries compare to other states.
Rankings are based on median annual salary from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, May 2024 estimates. We use median rather than mean salary because it better represents typical earnings and is less affected by outliers.
Only occupations with state-level data published by BLS are included. Some specialized or rare occupations may not have data for every state. For full methodology details, see our Methodology page.