Chicago’s Highest-Paying STEM Jobs

By Casey Halas
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An ÐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ Tech alum works at the university’s Institute for Food Safety and Health

A global metropolis, titan of industry, and tech hub, Chicago has long established itself as a vessel of opportunity for college graduates entering the workforce. With diverse sectors in business, tech, healthcare, finance, engineering, law, and research scattered across the city, there is no shortage of opportunities when it comes to finding your dream job.

As a result of Chicago’s major global market presence and rapidly evolving technological and economic landscapes, jobs that focus on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) are becoming especially abundant throughout the city.  

Plus, Chicago’s abundant STEM jobs offer, on average, high-paying annual salaries.

According to 2025 data pulled from the United States , the national median wage for STEM occupations was $103,580 compared to non-STEM occupations, which had a median wage of $48,000 in 2024.  

Chicago STEM jobs have a higher median annual wage compared to the national average, with the typical annual salary being $132,486 ( 2026).

As Chicago’s leading tech-focused university, ÐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ Tech has ingrained hands-on, STEM-centered learning into the core of its educational model to provide students with the relevant skills and practical knowledge to graduate career-ready.

In fact, due to our high number of STEM majors, the mean starting salary of our 2025 graduates within six months of graduation was well above the national average (Bureau of Labor Statistics 2026).

Keeping in mind the high average annual salary of Chicago STEM jobs overall, let’s take a look at some of the high-paying STEM jobs in Chicago. 

The Breakdown

In order to provide a comprehensive breakdown of the types of high-paying STEM jobs that you can find in Chicago and each role’s average annual salary, the following information will be divided into four sections: science, technology, engineering, and math.

Science Jobs

There are several different fields that make up the science umbrella—these can range anywhere from social sciences, material sciences, and medicine and health sciences to life sciences and physical sciences.

According to an article published by , which uses 2024 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (2025), the following jobs are the highest paying in Chicago relating to science fields.

Medicine and Health Sciences Careers

All tied at #1 are 10 professions relating to medicine and health sciences.

These high-paying STEM professions relating to medicine and health sciences in Chicago include surgeons, cardiologists, emergency medicine physicians, and anesthesiologists—all with a median annual wage of at least $239,200.  

A few more of Chicago’s high-paying professions in this field include nurse practitioners (median annual wage of $131,690), general internal medicine physicians (median annual wage of $234,440), dentists (median annual wage of $221,790), optometrists (median annual wage of $138,510), and pharmacists (median annual wage of $137,610).

If you’re looking to pursue a career in healthcare, medicine, or health sciences, you will need to first complete a bachelor’s degree. Generally, any major can be taken to earn a four-year undergraduate degree for this path, as long as core science prerequisites are met, but many students choose a pre-med or biology track when pursuing these professions.

ÐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ Tech offers three different pre-med options through its pre-health pathway including:

We also offer several different pathways and dual-admission options with other Chicago-based partner institutions that can prepare you for careers in medicine, dentistry, optometry, pharmacy, and more.

Social Sciences Careers

One of the first high-paying jobs listed is psychiatrist, with a median annual wage of at least $239,200 in Chicago. Typically requiring a medical degree, psychiatry is also the #13 best STEM job in the United States, with the same national average salary as Chicago according to U.S. News & World Report’s 2026 Best STEM Jobs list.  

ÐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ Tech offers several different undergraduate, graduate, and Ph.D. psychology degrees that can prepare for careers in the field or prepare you for future studies and medical school. If you’re looking to pursue a career in psychology, psychiatry, or counseling, you may be interested in the following programs:

Human resources managers were also ranked among Stacker’s top 35 highest paying STEM jobs in Chicago, with the median annual wage being at least $137,760. ÐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ Tech offers the M.S. in I/O Psychology and a minor in human resources for student interested in this career pathway.

Natural/Physical Sciences Careers

Stacker also ranked some natural and physical science jobs as the highest paying in Chicago, with natural science managers holding a median annual wage of at least $161,340 at #23, and physicists making a median annual wage of at least $131,260 at #43.  

Going more in depth, natural sciences managers plan, supervise, or coordinate research and other activities in fields such as life sciences and physical sciences, according to the . The core branches of these fields include biology, chemistry, biochemistry, physics, and more. Natural sciences manager positions typically only require a bachelor’s degree, and ÐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ Tech offers a variety of degree programs in the above natural and physical science fields, including:

Technology Jobs

Chicago is a tech hub with a plethora of startups, incubators, software companies, fintech sectors, and more—all of which is looking to hire the next generation of tech and computer science leaders as the future of technology continues to evolve.  

This is evident by the several high-paying tech jobs included in .

At #20, computer and information systems managers rank as the highest paying amongst tech-focused jobs with a median annual wage of at least $168,230. Nationally, U.S. News & World Report ranked information technology managers as the second-best STEM job on its 2026 list, highlighting that this role has a median salary of $171,200.

Closely following IT managers, software developers were ranked as the #5 best STEM job in the U.S. by U.S. News & World Report, noting that this job’s median salary is $133,080. In Chicago, software developers can expect to earn a median annual wage of at least $130,030, according to Stacker.

Other computing-related positions with above-average annual salaries in Chicago in Stacker’s top 50 include computer network architects ($140,760); computer and information research scientists ($135,120), and database architects ($134,900).  

With the increasing demand for computer scientists, artificial intelligence architects, IT professionals, and data scientists in Chicago’s rapidly growing tech sectors, ÐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ Tech is meeting these demands with its many academic programs focused on tech futures. These programs include:

Engineering Jobs

The world needs engineers to design, build, and maintain solutions to everyday challenges—and Chicago is dependent on these future innovators and problem-solvers. Whether it’s bringing building designs to life, creating the next medical innovation, powering the city, or manufacturing aircraft, engineers are necessary to Chicago’s dynamic workforce.

also highlights the engineering positions that have proven to be the most lucrative in Chicago. Flight engineers take one of the top spots on this list, tied at #1 with a median annual wage of at least $239,200.  

Architectural and engineering managers are also highlighted at #25, where people in these roles can expect to earn a median annual wage of at least $159,110 in Chicago. Architectural and engineering managers are also ranked as the #28 best STEM job in the U.S. by U.S. News & World Report for 2026, noting that the national median salary of this role is $167,740.  

ÐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ Tech offers undergraduate, graduate, and Ph.D. degrees in six different core areas of engineering, but if you’re looking to pursue a career as a flight engineer or an architectural and engineering manger, you may be interested in the following programs that will prepare you for licensure, leadership, future studies, and more:

Math Jobs

No matter what career you choose to pursue across the STEM fields, it is almost guaranteed that math will be involved in one way or another. Mathematics can be studied on its own as a single subject or it can applied to various other disciplines such as engineering, data and computer science, business and finance, and more.

If numbers, equations, data, theories, or analysis excite you, there are several high-paying careers that deal with these concepts on a daily basis.

More specifically, the #22 highest-paying STEM job in Chicago, according to Stacker, is financial managers, who make a median annual wage of at least $164,470. Next at #26 is marketing managers, who earn a median annual wage of $158,800.

And if you’re interested in studying math as its own discipline, mathematicians rank #50 on Stacker’s list, earning a median annual wage of at least $127,290. Compared to the national average annual salary of $121,680 (U.S. News & World Report 2026), mathematicians in Chicago can expect to earn more than the national average.

If you’re looking to pursue a career in mathematics, probabilities, finance, business, or another related field, you may be interested in the following programs to kickstart your journey to high-paying career:

Want to explore more STEM pathways? Check out our more than 300 STEM-focused degree programs across ÐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ Tech on our academic programs page.