Is Finance & Accounting a Good Job Market in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN?

Executive Verdict

Market rating: competitive | Confidence: Medium

Chicago is still a real Finance & Accounting market: accountants and auditors alone account for 41,820 local jobs, and recent hiring data shows more than 2,000 category postings across more than 1,000 companies over the last 90 days.[9][10] But it is a competitive search environment. Metro unemployment was 4.9% in May 2026, up 13.9535% year over year on a preliminary basis, and the local posting mix leans mid-career, with only about 15% of openings at entry level.[11][5] If you have strong reporting, analysis, modeling, or CPA-aligned credentials, you can still find openings; if you are junior, remote-only, or too general, expect a slower search.[1][2]

Best positioned: A mid-career accountant or analyst who can show strong Excel, financial reporting, financial analysis, budgeting, and financial modeling—and ideally CPA status or progress—has the best odds right now.[1][2]

Main caution: Do not assume Chicago's size makes entry or remote access easy: only about 15% of sampled openings are entry-level and about 5% are remote.[6][5]

What Changed Recently

• Chicago metro unemployment reached 4.9% in May 2026, up 13.9535% year over year on a preliminary basis.[11]: That usually means more applicants per opening, especially for broad accounting and analyst roles.
• Illinois finance & accounting employment was up 2.5% year over year in June 2026, and active postings were up 5.0%, even as Illinois postings across all occupations were down 8.5%.[19][20]: This function appears to be holding up better than the broader market, which is a good sign for targeted applicants.
• Nationally, job openings rose to 7594 thousand in May 2026, but hires fell 2.9655% year over year and quits fell 6.7539%.[27][28][29]: Open roles still exist, but employers appear to be moving more cautiously and candidates are changing jobs less often, which can stretch search timelines.
• Local hiring stayed broad rather than concentrated, with more than 2,000 postings across more than 1,000 companies and a fragmented employer mix over the last 90 days.[10][14]: You improve your odds by targeting a wide employer list instead of waiting on one marquee company.
• Chicago-area WARN notices hit Capital One Financial Corp. for 300 employees in June 2026 and Resilience Healthcare for 500 employees beginning August 31, 2026.[24][25]: Those notices are not finance-specific, but they can add experienced white-collar talent into the same metro labor pool.

What This Means for You

Entry-Level Candidates

Difficulty: Harder than the metro's size suggests.

Best target: Aim for staff accountant, payroll, revenue or GL support, and junior analyst roles where you can prove Excel, reconciliations, and reporting discipline.[2]

Biggest mistake: Filtering for remote-only jobs or vague 'entry level finance' titles; local openings skew on-site or hybrid and only about 15% of sampled roles are entry-level.[6][5]

Next step: Build a proof set you can show in interviews: one reconciliation, one month-end checklist, one variance note, and one Excel workbook you can walk through live.

Mid-Career Candidates

Difficulty: Moderate if you are specialized; tough if you present as a generalist.

Best target: Target senior accountant, FP&A, controller-track, tax, treasury, and audit roles at enterprise employers and public accounting firms, especially if you can show ownership of reporting, budgeting, or modeling.[7][8][2]

Biggest mistake: Using one generic resume for both accounting-close work and planning-analysis work.

Next step: Create two targeted resumes and two interview story sets: one for accuracy, controls, and reporting; one for forecasting, modeling, and decision support.

Career Switchers

Difficulty: Moderate to high.

Best target: Start with data-heavy analyst and operational finance support roles that value Excel, data analysis, budgeting, and reporting over a pure accounting pedigree.[2]

Biggest mistake: Trying to jump straight into senior accounting without CPA progress or hands-on close and reporting examples.[1][2]

Next step: Translate prior work into finance outcomes—forecast accuracy, variance analysis, margin tracking, reporting cadence, or audit support—not generic business tasks.

Salary Reality

high pay highly concentrated

For the clearest local anchor, BLS puts Chicago accountants and auditors at a $86,060 median annual wage, with the 25th percentile at $66,130 and the 75th percentile at $111,210.[9] Broader current posting data for Finance & Accounting centers on about $90k to $125k, with a wider band of about $72k to $170k, and Illinois new-opening salary averages run about $93,762 in state-level samples (n=3,356).[26][23]

This is a solid-paying market. State-level salary samples also show finance & accounting new-opening pay around $93,762 in Illinois versus about $79,501 across all occupations, so the function still carries a wage premium.[23] National salary guidance points to only 2.1% average salary growth in 2026, so leverage comes more from specialization than from broad market-wide raises.[4]

The upside is offset by a tighter entry funnel, CPA filtering, and a market that is mostly on-site or hybrid rather than remote.[6][5][1]

Best-paying path: The strongest pay tends to sit in controller-track, FP&A, senior accounting, tax, treasury, and enterprise roles where you can own reporting, modeling, and decision support.

Caution: Do not overread the top end: the BLS wage data is for accountants and auditors only and lags to May 2023, while posted salary bands pool multiple sub-roles, levels, and employers.[9][26]

Where the Opportunities Are Concentrated

Opportunity is real, but it is concentrated in certain parts of the category. Over the last 90 days, the metro showed more than 2,000 finance and accounting postings across more than 1,000 companies, and the employer base is fragmented rather than dominated by one company.[10][14] The most active industries in the sample were finance & accounting itself at about 25%, then finance, insurance, and manufacturing at about 15% each, with healthcare at about 10%.[16] That means the best search strategy is not "apply everywhere" but "cluster where your background fits." Public accounting and advisory employers are visibly active, with Deloitte showing more than 40 postings and Kpmg Us more than 20, while enterprise employers account for about 35% of sampled demand.[7][8] Those enterprise roles are more likely to reward candidates who can own reporting, budgeting, financial analysis, and modeling rather than just transaction processing.[2] The weak spots are the access points. Only about 15% of sampled openings are entry-level, while about 45% are mid-level and about 30% are senior, and remote roles are only about 5% of the mix.[6][5] If you are junior, switching careers, or insisting on fully remote work, your search will feel much tighter than the metro's overall size suggests.[6][5]

• Public accounting, audit, and tax (high): Repeated activity from Deloitte and Kpmg Us, plus the local value of CPA, reporting, and GAAP, make this one of the clearest target lanes for candidates with formal accounting credentials.[7][1][2]
• Enterprise corporate finance and accounting (high): About 35% of sampled demand comes from enterprise employers, with meaningful concentration in finance, insurance, and manufacturing, which favors candidates who can pair close discipline with analysis and modeling.[8][16][2]
• Entry-level support and remote-friendly roles (limited): This is the tightest part of the market because only about 15% of sampled openings are entry-level and about 5% are remote.[6][5]

Where to focus: Focus first on hybrid mid-level roles in enterprise finance, insurance, manufacturing, and public accounting, with a resume split between close/reporting work and planning/modeling work.

Skills and Credentials Worth Pursuing

• CPA (premium): CPA is the most commonly required certification in local postings, appearing in about 20% of roles.[1]
• Excel (table stakes): Excel appears repeatedly among the top requested skills, with excel at about 20% and Microsoft Excel at about 15% of postings.[2]
• Financial reporting (differentiator): Financial reporting shows up in about 15% of postings, which matters for close, audit support, and controller-track roles.[2]
• Financial analysis (differentiator): Financial analysis appears in about 15% of postings and is one of the clearest bridges between accounting and FP&A work.[2]
• Budgeting and forecasting (differentiator): Budgeting appears in about 10% of postings, and paired with analysis it signals planning ownership rather than pure transaction work.[2]
• Financial modeling (premium): Financial modeling appears in about 10% of postings and is one of the clearest ways to move from general accounting into higher-value planning and finance roles.[2]
• Data analysis (differentiator): Data analysis appears in about 10% of postings, and national outlook guidance says routine work is being automated as finance talent shifts toward more analytical and advisory tasks.[2][3]
• Advisory communication and financial transparency (premium): National salary guidance highlights financial transparency and advisory services as premium skills, which fits the local tilt toward mid- and senior-level roles.[4][5]

Adjacent Roles to Consider

• Data Analyst (both): Local finance postings already ask for Excel, data analysis, and reporting, so this is a logical bridge if you are stronger on analysis than accounting rules.[2]
• Business Analyst (both): The overlap is strongest for candidates who already do budgeting, variance analysis, reporting, and process improvement.[2]
• Pricing Analyst (bridge): This is a good fit if your finance background already includes financial analysis, modeling, margin thinking, and reporting.[2]
• ERP or Business Systems Analyst (pivot): Candidates with close, reporting, reconciliation, and data-cleanup experience often transition well into finance-systems work.[2]

30 / 60 / 90-Day Plan

First 30 Days

• Split your resume into two versions: one for accounting-close and reporting work, and one for finance-analysis and modeling work, because local demand emphasizes reporting, analysis, budgeting, modeling, and GAAP rather than one generic profile.[2]
• Target hybrid and on-site roles within commuting distance first; about 95% of sampled openings are not fully remote.[6]
• Build a short proof portfolio with one reconciliation, one close checklist, one variance write-up, and one forecast or model workbook you can explain live.
• If you need sponsorship, create a separate employer list immediately; less than 5% of postings that state a policy mention visa sponsorship being available.[12]
• If you do not have a bachelor's degree, prioritize employers that do not list education gates; about 70% of postings that state an education requirement ask for a bachelor's degree.[13]

Days 31-60

• Prioritize employers with repeated local activity—Deloitte, Intuit, Inc., Kpmg Us, and other enterprise firms—while also working the long tail because hiring is fragmented.[7][14]
• Finish one credential milestone: CPA eligibility review, an exam section, or documented training in reporting and GAAP that moves you out of the generalist pile.[1][2]
• Re-engage still-open roles after 3-5 weeks with a better-tailored note and updated work sample; the typical active posting stays open around 36 days.[15]
• Concentrate applications in finance, insurance, manufacturing, and public-accounting-heavy segments rather than scattering across unrelated back-office work.[16]

Days 61-90

• If interviews are thin, expand from title-based searches to skill-based searches such as financial reporting, financial analysis, budgeting, financial modeling, and GAAP.[2]
• If you are still blocked from core accounting roles, pivot toward adjacent analyst roles that use Excel, reporting, data analysis, and modeling, then circle back after you add one stronger business-results story.[2]
• Repackage your experience around enterprise pain points—month-end speed, reporting accuracy, budget variance insight, and model quality—because enterprise employers account for about 35% of sampled demand.[8][2]
• Ask every serious employer about close ownership, forecast cadence, and in-office expectations so you avoid roles that underpay for senior-level workload.

Methodology and Confidence

This June 2026 report was generated on July 10, 2026. Latest direct national data: June 2026. Latest direct Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN data: July 2026.

Confidence: Overall confidence: Medium. Local market context is solid, but some sub-role conclusions rely on broader category and state-level direction signals.

Limitations

• The clearest local wage anchor is for accountants and auditors, and that wage series is from May 2023, so it does not fully capture 2026 pay for FP&A, controller, tax, treasury, underwriting, or actuarial roles in Chicago.[9]
• Several metro labor-market changes cited for May 2026 are preliminary, so the year-over-year moves in unemployment, employment, and labor force can still be revised.[11][21][22]
• Statewide finance & accounting data was used as a proxy for Chicago where metro-by-occupation trend data was not available, so Illinois direction-of-hiring may overstate or understate conditions inside the metro itself.[19][20][23]
• The Callings.ai job database is a partial, deduplicated sample of online postings, so leading employer names, work arrangement patterns, seniority mix, and skill themes are more reliable than exact posting totals or exact market shares.[10][7][6][5][2]
• The WARN notices cited are metro-wide layoff notices and are not tagged to finance & accounting occupations, so they signal local risk and possible added candidate competition rather than direct category layoffs.[24][25]

References

1. Callings.ai. Callings.ai job-market aggregation · 2026-06 · callings.ai
2. Callings.ai. Callings.ai job-market aggregation · 2026-06 · callings.ai
3. Bureau of Labor Statistics. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · 2025-08 · bls.gov
4. Robert Half. Staffing, Recruitment & Job Search · 2025-10 · roberthalf.com
5. Callings.ai. Callings.ai job-market aggregation · 2026-06 · callings.ai
6. Callings.ai. Callings.ai job-market aggregation · 2026-06 · callings.ai
7. Callings.ai. Callings.ai job-market aggregation · 2026-06 · callings.ai
8. Callings.ai. Callings.ai job-market aggregation · 2026-06 · callings.ai
9. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Accountants and Auditors · 2024-04 · bls.gov
10. Callings.ai. Callings.ai job-market aggregation · 2026-06 · callings.ai
11. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Bureau of Labor Statistics Data · 2026-05 · data.bls.gov
12. Callings.ai. Callings.ai job-market aggregation · 2026-06 · callings.ai
13. Callings.ai. Callings.ai job-market aggregation · 2026-06 · callings.ai
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15. Callings.ai. Callings.ai job-market aggregation · 2026-06 · callings.ai
16. Callings.ai. Callings.ai job-market aggregation · 2026-06 · callings.ai
17. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Bureau of Labor Statistics Data · 2026-04 · data.bls.gov
18. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Bureau of Labor Statistics Data · 2026-06 · data.bls.gov
19. Reveliolabs. Employment - Revelio Public Labor Statistics (RPLS) · 2026-06 · reveliolabs.com
20. Reveliolabs. Job Openings - Revelio Public Labor Statistics (RPLS) · 2026-06 · reveliolabs.com
21. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Bureau of Labor Statistics Data · 2026-05 · data.bls.gov
22. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Bureau of Labor Statistics Data · 2026-05 · data.bls.gov
23. Reveliolabs. Salaries - Revelio Public Labor Statistics (RPLS) · 2026-06 · reveliolabs.com
24. Chicagobusiness. Crain's Chicago Business - Today's Chicago business news - Crain's Chicago Business · 2026-06 · chicagobusiness.com
25. Abc7chicago. ABC7 WLS Chicago and Chicago News · 2026-06 · abc7chicago.com
26. Callings.ai. Callings.ai job-market aggregation · 2026-06 · callings.ai
27. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Bureau of Labor Statistics Data · 2026-05 · data.bls.gov
28. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Bureau of Labor Statistics Data · 2026-05 · data.bls.gov
29. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Bureau of Labor Statistics Data · 2026-05 · data.bls.gov