Database architects job market in Illinois

Industry trends, wages and hiring signals.

The headline

Industry employment fell while average weekly industry wages rose

A data-driven view of the industries that employ Database architects in Illinois.

Verified QCEW 2026 Q1January to March 2026 · State coverage 100% · BLS QCEWCitationEvidence record

Occupation pay

What Database architects earn in Illinois

BLS OEWS occupation-level pay estimates for this role — separate from the industry wage trends used elsewhere in this report.

BLS OEWS source

Median annual wage

$142,500Illinois
Middle 50% of published wages
$122,340 – $167,870
U.S. median annual wage
$139,500
Reference period
May 2025

The middle 50% is the 25th-to-75th percentile wage range, not an experience-level band. Suppressed or unavailable BLS values remain unpublished rather than being estimated.

Pay around Illinois

How median pay varies by metro area

Published BLS OEWS metro estimates for Database architects, compared with the Illinois median of $142,500.

Illinois median$142,500
Bloomington, IL$161,430+13.3% vs. state
Middle 50%$123,460 – $166,610Published employment90
Peoria, IL$154,400+8.4% vs. state
Middle 50%$123,950 – $161,510Published employment30
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN$147,490+3.5% vs. state
Middle 50%$125,240 – $168,130Published employment1,260
St. Louis, MO-IL$122,310−14.2% vs. state
Middle 50%$81,200 – $154,060Published employment710

Areas are ordered by published median wage for readability, not as an overall job-market ranking. The vertical marker is the Illinois median. Some BLS metropolitan areas cross state lines, so a metro estimate can cover workers in more than one state.

Verified snapshot

Market at a Glance

Key changes in Illinois’s weighted industry mix.

-0.1%Industry employmentIllinois industry employmentU.S. -0.1%vs. -0.1% U.S.
+6.2%Establishments in weighted industriesIllinois establishments in weighted industriesU.S. +2.7%vs. +2.7% U.S.
+2.7%Avg. weekly industry wageIllinois avg. weekly industry wageU.S. +4.3% · not occupation payvs. +4.3% U.S. · not occupation pay
+0.1 ppGap vs. U.S. industry employmentState minus U.S. industry employment change

Percentage-point gaps use the original published values and are rounded once; subtracting the rounded percentages can give a slightly different result.

Published coverage: 131,817 represented establishments, 82.18% of the published industry mix.

Local research

What the data shows for database architects in Illinois

Findings describe the published observation periods shown below. Research published Oct 10, 2026.

The highest-paying metro has a smaller employment market

Median annual pay of $161,430 puts Bloomington, IL at the top of the published pay estimates for Illinois-associated metros with usable employment figures in OEWS May 2025. Its employment estimate is 90. The largest employment market, Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN, has 1,260 estimated jobs and median pay of $147,490. The comparison covers 3 metros, and the highest-paying metro's median is 9.5% higher than the largest market's. Market size describes existing jobs, not available vacancies.

OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWS

Some metro estimates cross state lines. Higher nominal pay does not establish better living standards or better chances of finding a job.

This occupation is less concentrated in the state

The published location quotient for database architects in Illinois is 0.60 in OEWS May 2025: their share of employment is 0.60 times the national share. The state estimate is 1,590 jobs, 2.4% of the national employment estimate for this occupation. It represents 0.26 jobs per thousand jobs in the state's OEWS employment universe. The measure describes the distribution of existing employment, not current hiring or future growth.

OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWS

OEWS employment estimates describe covered wage-and-salary jobs and exclude self-employed workers; location quotients do not measure vacancies or worker demand.

Industry groups are pulling in opposite directions

Information and Professional and business services moved in opposite directions in Illinois in January to March 2026: their year-over-year employment changes were +2.3% and -1.3%, respectively. These are leading industry groups for this occupation, and the groups examined account for 96.0% of its national industry mix. Their opposing movements are combined in the overall industry figure.

January to March 2026 · BLS QCEW

Industry measures describe the industries associated with this occupation. They are not direct occupation employment, current openings or a state-level Job Market Health score. Findings describe published data and do not establish causes. Methodology

Employment trends

Year-over-year change in the weighted industries. The U.S. line is the latest-quarter benchmark because a comparable national quarterly history is not published here.

Latest published values
  • Illinois · 2026 Q1-0.1%
  • U.S. · latest-quarter benchmark-0.1%

The chart will load automatically. Published values remain available in this report.

View every published value
Quarterly Illinois industry employment changes and coverage
QuarterIllinoisCoverage
2024 Q2-2.0%100%
2024 Q3-1.5%100%
2024 Q4-1.3%100%
2025 Q1-1.1%100%
2025 Q2-0.6%100%
2025 Q3-0.4%100%
2025 Q4-0.3%100%
2026 Q1-0.1%100%

How to read this chart

State trend and national reference

The solid line follows Illinois’s published year-over-year industry employment changes by quarter. The dashed U.S. line is a latest-quarter reference, not a second time series.

Published quarters
8
Earliest quarter
2024 Q2
Latest quarter
2026 Q1
U.S. benchmark
-0.1%

Quarters with no published value are omitted rather than interpolated.

Industry context

Where Database architects Work

The occupation mix determines which Illinois industries are weighted into this view.

Industries weighted into the Illinois Database architects context
Industry groupOccupation mixEmployment changeEstablishmentsAvg. weekly industry wage
Professional and business services50.4%-1.3%87,055$2,208
Financial activities16.2%+1.1%34,559$4,400
Information15.4%+2.3%10,203$3,270
Private education and health services6.2%+2.1%44,950$1,266
Trade, transportation, and utilities5.4%-1.7%78,241$1,440
Manufacturing2.4%-1.2%19,755$2,067

Which industries are growing?

3 weighted industries are growing

Only weighted industries with a published positive Illinois employment change are listed.

  • Information+2.3%
  • Private education and health services+2.1%
  • Financial activities+1.1%

The remaining weighted industries published a flat or negative change in January to March 2026.

Current Illinois context

Current Illinois Market Signals

Statewide indicators for all occupations in Illinois. They are not Database architects demand and are not part of the Job Market Health score.

Statewide job postings

Indeed job postings · Illinois

Recent hiring-demand context · separate from the health score

90.3Postings index · February 1, 2020 = 100Observation: Oct 23, 2026
-9.8%Versus the February 2020 baseline
+1.3%Change over about four weeksSep 25, 2026 to Oct 23, 2026

Total postings index (seasonally adjusted) by observation date · baseline 100

The chart will load automatically. Published values remain available in this report.

View values: Indeed postings index
Indeed postings index
Observation dateIndex (Feb 2020 = 100)
Jul 24, 202687.70
Jul 31, 202687.71
Aug 7, 202687.29
Aug 14, 202687.21
Aug 21, 202687.34
Aug 28, 202687.57
Sep 4, 202687.61
Sep 11, 202688.41
Sep 18, 202688.33
Sep 25, 202689.10
Oct 2, 202689.45
Oct 9, 202689.90
Oct 16, 202689.80
Oct 23, 202690.25

This is statewide demand across all occupations, not demand for this specific job. Postings are not a count of vacancies or hires, and Indeed does not cover the entire labor market.

Source: Indeed Hiring Lab · CC BY 4.0. Seven-day average, seasonally adjusted; publisher refreshes weekly and may revise history. Retrieved Oct 30, 2026 · saved source copy. JobMarketHealth calculates the displayed changes and samples weekly observations for the chart.

Explore states and career fields · Methodology and limits

Statewide layoff notices

Career context

Related roles from the occupation’s published O*NET profile.

Questions answered by this release

Database architects in Illinois FAQs

Each answer is limited to what QCEW 2026 Q1 actually publishes for this state.

Is employment growing for Database architects in Illinois?

The available QCEW measure is not direct occupation employment. Employment across the Illinois industries weighted to Database architects changed -0.1% year over year in January to March 2026, compared with -0.1% nationwide.

Are wages for Database architects rising in Illinois?

QCEW does not publish pay for Database architects in this view. Average weekly wages across the weighted industries changed +2.7% year over year; that must not be read as an occupation salary change.

How complete is this Illinois industry view?

The three core state trends each meet the site’s coverage floor; the minimum published coverage is 100% of the occupation’s industry mix.

Does this page show current Database architects openings?

No. QCEW measures industry employment, establishments and wages. Any postings, news or WARN figures shown here are statewide context and are not occupation-specific openings.

Methodology & sourcesQCEW 2026 Q1 · coverage 100% · full evidence record

Methodology & Sources

Derived by JobMarketHealth from BLS QCEW + published occupation industry mix. This is occupation-weighted industry context, not direct occupation employment and not a count of current job openings.

Occupation
Database architects
SOC code
15-1243
State
Illinois
QCEW release label
QCEW 2026 Q1
Data period
2026 Q1
State industry employment, year over year
-0.1%State data coverage 100%
U.S. benchmark, year over year
-0.1%
Difference from U.S. benchmark
+0.1 percentage pointsPercentage-point gaps use the original published values and are rounded once; subtracting the rounded percentages can give a slightly different result.
Establishments, year over year
+6.2%State data coverage 100%
Average weekly industry wage, year over year
+2.7%State data coverage 100%
Industry mix vintage
EP-2025-2035
BLS publication date
Aug 28, 2026
Source verification
Verified against the committed source snapshotVerified Sep 17, 2026
Canonical record URL
https://jobmarkethealth.com/occupations/database-architects/illinois#evidence-record
Derived by
JobMarketHealth from BLS QCEW + published occupation industry mix

Weighted industry conditions are not direct occupation employment, occupation wages, current openings or a state-level Job Market Health score. No causal explanation is inferred.

Database architects in other states