How much does an electrician cost per hour in Chicago?

The Chicago median wage paid to electricians is $49.21/hr. Applying the standard 2x to 3x contractor burden assumption for overhead, insurance, and profit, a billed rate lands between $98.42 and $147.63/hr. This is not a measured billing rate, it is arithmetic on the BLS wage.

Why is Chicago's electrician wage so much higher than the national median?

BLS OEWS data shows Chicago electricians earn a median $49.21/hr against a national median of $30.38/hr, a gap of $18.83/hr or about 62%. The data does not explain the cause. It may reflect local cost of living, union density, or licensing requirements, but BLS reports the wage level only, not the reason for it.

Does a higher local wage always mean a higher final bill?

Not necessarily. The wage is only one input. The multiplier a contractor applies to cover payroll taxes, insurance, vehicles, and profit is a business decision, not a published figure. Two contractors paying the same $49.21/hr wage can bill very differently depending on their overhead and margin.

Are electrical material costs rising along with labor rates?

Yes. The Producer Price Index for electrical machinery and equipment rose 13.2% over the twelve months ending July 2026, and primary nonferrous metals (which includes copper wiring stock) rose 52.8% over the same period. These are index levels, not dollar prices, but the direction is a real cost pressure on top of labor.

What crew size does this calculation assume?

The build-up tables in this article assume one electrician working alone for 8 hours. Larger panel or service upgrade jobs often add a second electrician or an apprentice, and some require a supervisor on site. Chicago's median wage for construction trade supervisors is $53.49/hr, which would raise the labor line if one is billed on the job.

Electrician Rates in Chicago vs the National Average

Chicago electricians are paid a median $49.21/hr, against a national median of $30.38/hr, a gap of $18.83/hr or about 62%. Applying the standard 2x to 3x overhead multiplier that small residential contractors use to cover taxes, insurance, and profit, an 8-hour job in Chicago runs roughly $1,087 to $1,781 with materials, against roughly $786 to $1,329 nationally.

Key points

Chicago’s median electrician wage is $49.21/hr, 62% above the national median of $30.38/hr, per BLS OEWS data for Chicago, IL.
Illinois statewide sits close to Chicago at $47.87/hr median, meaning the gap is mostly Illinois vs the rest of the country, not Chicago vs downstate.
A billed hourly rate is the wage times a burden multiplier, and that multiplier (2x to 3x here) is an assumption this site is applying, not a number BLS publishes.
An 8-hour, one-electrician job works out to roughly $1,087–$1,781 in Chicago versus $786–$1,329 nationally once a materials allowance is added.
Materials are getting more expensive too: the PPI for primary nonferrous metals is up 52.8% year over year through July 2026.

Two technicians with helmets working on electrical equipment outdoors, ensuring safety.

What do electricians actually earn in Chicago vs nationally?

Chicago and Illinois both pay well above the national median. Here is the full wage breakdown from the BLS OEWS Chicago electrician data, 2025 survey year:

Young female technician repairing electrical control panel in industrial setting.

Level	Median	25th percentile	75th percentile	Mean	Employed
United States	$30.38	$23.76	$40.36	$34.37	757,220
Illinois statewide	$47.87	$35.35	$56.47	$44.34	23,120
Chicago, IL	$49.21	$35.77	$57.05	$45.41	17,720

Note that Illinois statewide ($47.87) and Chicago ($49.21) are close to each other. The real divide in this data is Illinois against the rest of the country, not Chicago against the rest of Illinois. A first-line supervisor of construction trades in Chicago earns a median $53.49/hr, useful context if your job needs a supervisor on site rather than a single electrician working alone.

Why is the number on your invoice higher than the wage in this table?

Because the wage is what the worker is paid, not what the customer is billed. BLS only publishes wages. The bill also has to cover payroll taxes, workers’ compensation, liability insurance, a vehicle, fuel, tools, office and estimating time, a warranty reserve, and profit. None of that is in the OEWS data.

Person using pliers to cut through colorful electrical wires, showcasing DIY electronics work.

This site applies a 2x to 3x multiplier to the wage as a working assumption for small residential electrical contractors. That range is not measured by BLS or any federal source. It is a standard rule of thumb for how small trade businesses price labor, and it is stated here explicitly so you can argue with it. If you know a contractor’s actual overhead structure, replace this number with theirs.

At 2x to 3x, Chicago’s $49.21/hr median wage becomes a billed rate of $98.42 to $147.63/hr. The same math on the national $30.38/hr median produces $60.76 to $91.14/hr.

What would an 8-hour electrical job actually cost?

Take a single electrician working alone for 8 hours, no apprentice, no supervisor. Apply the burden multiplier to the wage, multiply by hours, then add a materials allowance. The materials figure below ($300–$600) is not from BLS. It is a placeholder for breakers, wire, boxes, and incidentals on a mid-size residential job, stated as an assumption so you can swap in your actual quote.

Scenario	Wage	Burden multiplier	Billed rate/hr	Hours	Labor cost	Materials (assumption)	Total job cost
Chicago, low burden	$49.21	2.0x	$98.42	8	$787	$300–$600	$1,087–$1,387
Chicago, high burden	$49.21	3.0x	$147.63	8	$1,181	$300–$600	$1,481–$1,781
National, low burden	$30.38	2.0x	$60.76	8	$486	$300–$600	$786–$1,086
National, high burden	$30.38	3.0x	$91.14	8	$729	$300–$600	$1,029–$1,329

At the midpoint burden of 2.5x, Chicago labor alone runs $984 for the 8 hours against $608 nationally, a $377 gap, which is the same ~62% the raw wages show. Once the fixed materials allowance is folded in, the percentage gap narrows to roughly 30-40%, because a flat materials cost dilutes a percentage difference that exists only in the labor line. That is a real effect of the arithmetic, not a change in the underlying wage gap.

Are material costs adding to the pressure?

Yes, and the direction is worth knowing even without a dollar figure. The BLS Producer Price Index tracks index levels, not prices, so these numbers cannot be converted into dollars per foot of wire or per breaker. But the trend is clear:

Electrical machinery and equipment (PPI series WPU117): 160.394 in July 2026, up from 141.641 a year earlier, a 13.2% twelve-month increase.
Primary nonferrous metals (PPI series WPU1022), which includes the copper and aluminum stock used in wiring: 542.853 in July 2026, up from 355.181 a year earlier, a 52.8% twelve-month increase.

If your quote’s materials line looks higher than it did a year ago, this is one reason why. The materials allowance used in the table above is a static placeholder, not adjusted for this trend, because there is no dollar-denominated federal materials price series to substitute in.

What can this calculation not see?

This arithmetic only covers labor hours, a burden multiplier, and a flat materials guess. It cannot see:

Permit fees, which vary by municipality and job type and are not part of any BLS series.
Disposal or haul-away costs for old panels, wire, or fixtures.
Code upgrades triggered by inspection, such as bringing an older panel up to current code as part of a permitted job.
Access difficulty: finished walls, older knob-and-tube wiring, crawlspaces, or a service entrance that’s hard to reach.
Season and scheduling: contractor demand shifts through the year and this data does not track seasonal pricing.
Emergency or after-hours call-out premiums, which are typically a flat surcharge or higher hourly rate not captured in a median wage figure.

Any of these can move a real quote well outside the range in the table above without the contractor doing anything wrong.

How do you check whether your quote is fair?

Ask for the quote broken into labor hours, labor rate, and materials, as separate line items. A contractor who can state their hourly rate and estimated hours is pricing from a real number. A contractor who gives you one lump sum with no breakdown is asking you to trust a total you cannot verify against anything, including the numbers in this article.

The single question that exposes a padded bid: “What is your hourly rate, and how many hours do you expect this to take?” If the answer, multiplied out, lands far above the $98–$148/hr Chicago range or the $61–$91/hr national range calculated here, ask what is driving the difference. It might be a legitimate answer, a specialty license, a difficult access condition, an emergency call. It might also be padding. You will not know until you ask.

What to check before signing

Confirm the hourly rate and estimated hours are stated separately from materials. Confirm whether permits and disposal are included in the quoted total or billed separately. Ask if the crew includes a second electrician or a supervisor, since that changes the labor line materially, Chicago’s supervisor median is $53.49/hr on top of the electrician rate. And keep in mind every number in this article traces back to a wage or index BLS published on the date at the top of this page. Your local market, your specific job, and this contractor’s specific overhead can all move the real price away from what this arithmetic produces.