Software Engineer Salary in Illinois and How to Increase It

By | July 18, 2023
Software Engineer Salary in Illinois
Software engineers in Illinois find the State a great place to work and live in due to high salary and low cost of living.

The software engineer salary in Illinois is $103,000 yearly.

This post presents detailed information on the salary of a software engineer in Illinois and how to increase it, including the cities and companies that pay the highest salaries to software engineers in the State of Illinois.

Please, read on:

Illinois is one of the most promising and affordable States for Software engineers in the Upper Midwestern regions of the US.

It has the potential for the software engineer to earn in the six figure bracket with salaries as high as $103,000 yearly and a 25% above National average.

Software Engineer Salary across the State of Illinois

With cities like Rolling Meadows, Chicago, Hoffman Estates paying software engineers highly, the State of Illinois due to its Upper Midwestern position is a very viable and cost effective place where software engineers can comfortably live and work.

Cities such as Bolingbrook pay better than some cities also in the upper Midwest.

Highest Paying Cities for Software Engineers in Illinois

Here are the cities that pay software engineers highest in the State of Illinois, starting from the highest paying city to the lowest:

CitiesSalary Yearly ($)
Rolling Meadows110,760
Chicago109,206
Hoffman Estates102,330
Lisle101,688
Schaumburg98,130
Naperville93,754
South Bend93,039
Aurora93,039
Lisbon90,541
Bolingbrook90,067
Illinois Cities where software engineers earn highest salaries

Software Engineer Salary Based on Skill in Illinois

Skills are very important in the earning power of any profession and for a software engineer working in Illinois to earn a high salary, skills must come into play.

Highlighted below are the most relevant skills needed by a software engineer in the State of Illinois:

  • Scala: earns 24.30%, which is $19,797 yearly added on salary.
  • Os kernels: earns 17.55%, which translates to $14,298 yearly added as salary.
  • Big Data: earns 17.35%, which is $14,135 yearly added on salary.
  • Microservices: earns 16.13%, which amounts to $13,141 added on salary yearly.
  • Machine Learning: earns 11.71%, which is $9,540 added on yearly salary.
  • Data Structure: earns 10.99%, which is $8,953 yearly added salary.

Software Engineer Salary Based on Experience in Illinois

In other to earn high in the State of Illinois, experience and skill are major factors that come into play, and the software engineer without any of these is not expected to earn high.

Here are the earning potential of the years of experience a software engineer must have to earn high across board in Illinois:

  • -1 year earns $90,812 yearly.
  • 1 – 2 years earns $93,300 yearly.
  • 3 – 5 years earns $95,000 yearly.
  • 6 – 9 years earns $106,716 yearly.
  • 10 years and above earns $122,261 yearly.

10 Highest Paying Companies for Software Engineer in Illinois

Illinois has many companies scattered throughout the State, many high tech startups and large corporations paying various range of salaries.

We have identified the top ten companies where the software engineer earns high in Illinois:

CompanySalary Yearly ($)
Citi190,755
Apple173,431
Facebook159,628
Octo Consulting Group153,5111
Juniper Networks149,863
Oracle142,948
Imc Financial Markets140,430
Salesforce137,817
Experian136,409
Cisco134,211
Companies that pay highest salaries to software engineers in Illinois

More Benefits for Software Engineers in Illinois

Software engineers in Illinois aside getting a yearly cash bonus, attached to salaries are other added benefits which are shown below:

  • Cash bonus. Cash bonus comes in various forms; it can be for the completion of a project or testing.
  • Long term incentives. The long term incentives come as retirement benefits to the software engineer, and are well rewarded for their service years.
  • Stocks. Software engineers in Illinois get stocks as benefits from the companies they work for, and get dividend at year’s end.

What Related Job Titles to Software Engineer Earn In Illinois

The software engineer job has some related work titles and these earn higher or lower than the software engineer, they include:

  • Backend Developer earns $111,154 yearly.
  • Full Stack Developer earns $110,382 yearly salary.
  • Frontend Developer earns $106,186 yearly salary.
  • Developer earns $94,671 yearly salary.
  • Application Developer earns $78,114 yearly as salary.

Software Engineer Job and Salary Outlook in the State of Illinois

Illinois for the software engineer is the best place to live and work in considering its location within the US.

It is the most affordable and fast paced state within her region and software engineers will find working and living in the State a good turn around in their choice.

It is a state ranked 32nd in terms of living cost, which is not bad considering also the cost of other States within the region. S

Salaries can rise to between $89,000 and $103,000 in the coming years.

How to Increase Your Salary as a Software Engineer in the State of Illinois

If you are working in Illinois as a software engineer and need to increase your pay, here are some steps to follow:

  • Have a good professional degree: A degree in the relevant field of study will help the aspiring software engineer in Illinois to stand tall and boost their chances of a salary increase.
  • Have a good set of skills: A good set of relevant technical and soft skills will in know small measure help in increasing your chances of an increment in salary in Illinois.
  • Work for high paying companies: Some companies in Illinois pay well; seeking out such high paying companies is a good way to increase your salary.
  • Move to a bigger city: Some cities in the State of Illinois are bigger and better suited to getting an increase in salary. Moving from a small city to a bigger one will greatly enhance your chances of getting an increase in salary Illinois.
  • Network with other professionals in other fields: Friends and acquaintances sometimes play roles that are not noticeable, having such influence can get you high paying job openings not advertised and this can translate to a pay rise within Illinois.

More Career Opportunities for Software Engineers in Illinois

The software engineer has an open field of career opportunities to work and choose from in Illinois.

They include:

  • Agricultural engineer: earns $87,000 yearly salary.
  • Wind energy engineer: earns $85,000 as yearly salary.
  • Bioinformatics scientist: earns $83,000 yearly as salary.
  • Power engineer: earns $82,000 as yearly salary.
  • Mechanical engineer: earns as yearly salary $78,000.

Conclusion

The State of Illinois is ranked amongst the top twenty in terms of cost of living standards across the US, and with a 25% salary above the National average, the State is a good place for software engineers to find job and live.

With the annual salary expected to rise up as high as $103,000 yearly, the software engineer in Illinois is comfortable with both salary and living conditions.

Illinois boast of being one of the most affordable States in the Upper Midwest to work and live in.

Information sources: bls.gov, ziprecuriter.com, indeed.com, insight.dice.com, hackreactor.com, and careerexplorer.com.