City of Chicago / Office of Public Safety Administration / Principal Systems Programmer
Job-title file
Lead staff and operations — set priorities, allocate resources, and oversee program delivery.
2 employees hold this title in Office of Public Safety Administration. Median total compensation for the role is $170,160, 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 Computer Programmers — about 650 people — is $99,750. Office of Public Safety Administration pays a median base salary of $170,160 for this role, 71% above that figure — above the 90th percentile of local pay for the occupation.
The bar is the range of annual wages for Computer Programmers 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 Computer Programmers — about 92,230 people — is $100,390. Office of Public Safety Administration’s median base salary is 69% above that national figure, above the 90th 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 $170,160, 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.
Record list
Page 1
Principal Systems Programmer/Office of Public Safety Administration
Source-specific fields
Vi La holds the role of Principal Systems Programmer at Office of Public Safety Administration. Their status is full-time. In 2026, their total compensation was $170,160.
Principal Systems Programmer/Office of Public Safety Administration
Source-specific fields
James Burger works as a Principal Systems Programmer for Office of Public Safety Administration. Their status is full-time. James earned $170,160 in 2026.