City of Chicago / Office of Public Safety Administration / Electrical Engineer IV
Job-title file
Design, analyze, and oversee technical systems or infrastructure, ensuring they meet specifications and codes.
1 employees hold this title in Office of Public Safety Administration. Median total compensation for the role is $146,160, above the department median of $108,552.
Compared with the local labor market
Across all employers in the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN area, the median wage for Electrical Engineers — about 4,290 people — is $113,520. Office of Public Safety Administration pays a median base salary of $146,160 for this role, 29% above that figure — about the 81st percentile of local pay for the occupation.
The bar is the range of annual wages for Electrical Engineers across every employer in the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN area, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows Office of Public Safety Administration’s median base salary for this role. Both figures are base pay only.
And across the country
Nationwide, the median wage for Electrical Engineers — about 198,750 people — is $120,630. Office of Public Safety Administration’s median base salary is 21% above that national figure, about the 70th percentile of pay for the occupation nationally.
Local and national wages differ for reasons beyond how well a job pays — cost of living, the mix of employers, and local demand for the occupation all move the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN range relative to the national one.
Median total compensation for this role at Office of Public Safety Administration is $146,160, which includes overtime and employer-paid benefits. The benchmark above excludes both, so total compensation is deliberately not compared against it.
Benchmark: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2025). BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) covers all employers in the area — private, non-profit, and government alike — so this is a comparison against the whole local labor market for the occupation, not against private-sector pay. OEWS wages are straight-time pay and exclude overtime, shift differentials, and employer-paid benefits, so the government figure shown here is base pay on the same basis. Total compensation is not comparable to it. Job titles are matched to the closest standard occupation, so the comparison is between similar work rather than an identical job classification.
Compare departments
Electrical Engineer IV is held in 4 City of Chicago departments. In Office of Public Safety Administration, the median of $146,160 ranks #1 of 4.
Median total compensation for the Electrical Engineer IV role in other City of Chicagodepartments (highest first). Each bar links to that department’s page for this role.
Compare jurisdictions
This role is reported in 8 jurisdictions. In City of Chicago, the median of $134,940 ranks #3 of 8. See Electrical Engineer across all of City of Chicago →
Median total compensation for comparable Electrical Engineerroles in other jurisdictions. Titles are matched by normalized name across sources, not identical job classification, and pay is not cost-of-living adjusted. Each bar links to that jurisdiction’s page for the role.
Record list
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Electrical Engineer IV/Office of Public Safety Administration
Source-specific fields
Jeffrey Cairns is a Electrical Engineer IV at Office of Public Safety Administration. They work full-time. 2026 total compensation came to $146,160.