Waiters and Waitresses pay in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
$35,650avg. a year
$17.14 an hour · 54,100 employed
Waiters and Waitresses in the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN metro area earn an average of $35,650 a year. That is about the same as the Illinois average of $35,610. The U.S. average is $40,060.
$31,200Median pay
$17.14Average hourly
+0%vs. Illinois average
54,100Jobs in this metro
Other Illinois metro areas
Average pay for waiters and waitresses in other Illinois metro areas. Swipe to see all 11.
120,170 jobs
St. Louis, MO-IL
$39,070
$18.79 an hour
2820 jobs
Cape Girardeau, MO-IL
$36,880
$17.73 an hour
31,370 jobs
Bloomington, IL
$35,320
$16.98 an hour
4530 jobs
Decatur, IL
$35,310
$16.98 an hour
51,710 jobs
Rockford, IL
$35,200
$16.93 an hour
6550 jobs
Kankakee, IL
$34,960
$16.81 an hour
71,500 jobs
Champaign-Urbana, IL
$34,920
$16.79 an hour
81,600 jobs
Springfield, IL
$34,920
$16.79 an hour
92,340 jobs
Peoria, IL
$34,900
$16.78 an hour
101,010 jobs
Paducah, KY-IL
$33,040
$15.89 an hour
112,680 jobs
Davenport-Moline-Rock Island, IA-IL
$29,950
$14.40 an hour
Why people trust JobPayFacts
Official government dataEvery number comes from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics wage survey of employers, not self-reported salaries.
Every state and city830 jobs across all 50 states, D.C. and 199 large metro areas.
Updated every yearNew figures each spring when BLS releases them. This site uses May 2025 data.
How Chicago-Naperville-Elgin compares
Pay range: metro vs. state vs. U.S.
Annual wage percentiles, May 2025
This metroIllinoisU.S.
Illinois metro areas
Average pay, May 2025 · this metro highlighted
Related jobs in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
| Job | Avg. pay in this metro |
|---|---|
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | $34,690 |
| Bartenders | $35,740 |
| Food Servers, Nonrestaurant | $36,550 |
| Cooks, Restaurant | $40,450 |
| First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers | $47,000 |
| Food Preparation Workers | $36,980 |
Questions and answers
How much do waiters and waitresses make in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin?
The average is $35,650 a year, and the median is $31,200. About 54,100 people work in this job in the metro area.
Is that more than the Illinois average?
That is about the same as the Illinois average of $35,610.
Is this job common in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin?
It makes up 12.0 of every 1,000 jobs in the metro area, 0.82 times the national share.
Sources and notes. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025, occupation code 35-3031. Metro area: Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN metropolitan statistical area (BLS area code 16980). Wages are gross pay before taxes and don't include overtime premiums, tips, bonuses or benefits; self-employed workers aren't included. How we use the data. JobPayFacts isn't affiliated with BLS.