Rack and Stack / Hardware Deployment Technician Salary in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN

This is the Data Center Headhunters salary guide.

BLS does not measure Rack and Stack / Hardware Deployment Technician as its own occupation, so this page uses Computer, Automated Teller, and Office Machine Repairers (SOC 49-2011, closest proxy). The median annual wage in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN was $45,710 (BLS, May 2025), and the middle half earned $37,850 to $56,810. That is $2,100 below the national median of $47,810.

This is what we do all day: recruit data center professionals.

Closest proxy

Computer, Automated Teller, and Office Machine Repairers is the closest occupational proxy based on the work described, not a separate data center wage series. BLS does not distinguish this title, experience level, shift, credentials or data center employers. Confirm the actual duties before using this comparison.

Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN

Computer, Automated Teller, and Office Machine Repairers, Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN, annual wages
Point	Annual wage	Meaning
10th percentile	$33,550	10% of workers in this occupation and area earned less than this.
25th percentile	$37,850	25% earned less than this.
Median	$45,710	Half earned less, half earned more.
75th percentile	$56,810	75% earned less than this.
90th percentile	$62,910	90% earned less than this.
Mean	$48,170	Average wage.

Computer, Automated Teller, and Office Machine Repairers, Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN, hourly wages
Point	Hourly wage	Meaning
10th percentile	$16.13	10% of workers in this occupation and area earned less than this.
25th percentile	$18.2	25% earned less than this.
Median	$21.98	Half earned less, half earned more.
75th percentile	$27.31	75% earned less than this.
90th percentile	$30.24	90% earned less than this.
Mean	$23.16	Average wage.

United States

Computer, Automated Teller, and Office Machine Repairers, United States, annual wages
Point	Annual wage	Meaning
10th percentile	$35,910	10% of workers in this occupation and area earned less than this.
25th percentile	$38,900	25% earned less than this.
Median	$47,810	Half earned less, half earned more.
75th percentile	$59,870	75% earned less than this.
90th percentile	$71,730	90% earned less than this.
Mean	$50,880	Average wage.

Computer, Automated Teller, and Office Machine Repairers, United States, hourly wages
Point	Hourly wage	Meaning
10th percentile	$17.26	10% of workers in this occupation and area earned less than this.
25th percentile	$18.7	25% earned less than this.
Median	$22.99	Half earned less, half earned more.
75th percentile	$28.78	75% earned less than this.
90th percentile	$34.49	90% earned less than this.
Mean	$24.46	Average wage.

What BLS wages cover: OEWS includes base rates, guaranteed pay, commissions and production incentives. It excludes on-call waiting or availability pay, overtime, shift differentials, nonproduction bonuses and benefits. The on-call exclusion covers time awaiting a call to work, not ordinary wages for hours actually worked. These are straight-time gross wages, not pure base salary or total compensation. Discuss per diem, travel and relocation separately. BLS pay-term definitions.

Employment: 2,590. Location quotient: 1.36.

Location quotient measures job concentration, not pay. A value above 1 means the occupation makes up a larger share of local jobs than it does nationally. It says nothing about wages.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. SOC 49-2011 Computer, Automated Teller, and Office Machine Repairers, Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN. Download metropolitan data (ZIP).

Pay relative to all occupations

Median for this occupation divided by the all-occupations median, same area, same annual basis
Measure	Value
This occupation, median	$45,710
All occupations (SOC 00-0000), median	$54,720
Relative wage	0.84 times

A ratio of 1.00 means the same median as all workers in the area. It is arithmetic on two BLS medians, not a BLS statistic.

Change since the prior BLS release

Median annual wage, same SOC and same BLS area code, two releases
Reference period	Median
May 2024	$46,340
May 2025	$45,710
Difference	-$630 (-1.4%)

Two published BLS values, shown as released. Not annualized, not adjusted for inflation, and BLS metro boundaries and survey panels can differ between releases.

What is inside the BLS pay figure

For construction and commissioning hires, separate expense reimbursements and overtime from straight-time pay. Check a project bonus on its actual terms. Guaranteed pay and production incentives count in BLS wages; discretionary nonproduction bonuses do not.

Pay components for Deployment, Rack & Stack and Structured Cabling roles against the BLS wage definition
Component	In the BLS figure?	Note
Base rate and guaranteed pay	Included	BLS counts the "base rate" and "guaranteed pay".
Production and incentive pay	Included	BLS counts "incentive pay including commissions and production bonuses".
On-call waiting or availability pay	Left out	BLS excludes payment for time spent awaiting a call to work, not ordinary wages for hours actually worked. BLS on-call pay definition.
Overtime pay matters here	Left out	BLS excludes "overtime pay". Straight-time pay only.
Shift differentials	Left out	BLS excludes "shift differentials", so night and weekend premiums are not in the figure.
Project-completion and discretionary bonuses matters here	Depends on the terms	Guaranteed pay and production incentives are included. Discretionary nonproduction bonuses are excluded. Check how the payment is defined.
Per diem, travel and relocation matters here	Left out	BLS does not name these as wages. They are expense reimbursements and are not in the figure.
Benefits and employer costs	Left out	BLS excludes "employer costs for supplementary benefits".

Nearby and other areas

Recruiter's read

Qualitative, not from BLS data.

Rack and Stack / Hardware Deployment Technician candidates are usually screened on racking servers, switches and PDUs to elevation drawings; power-on and burn-in checks; cable management and labeling standards; safe lifting and lift equipment use.

We usually find them through deployment contractors and integrators; MSP techs; warehouse staff with IT training; military. We contact working people directly rather than relying on job applications.

Hiring Market Brief

A one-page brief for Rack and Stack / Hardware Deployment Technician in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN: BLS pay, mapping and caveats.

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What the published rows say about Rack and Stack / Hardware Deployment Technician pay in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN

Rack and Stack / Hardware Deployment Technician maps to Computer, Automated Teller, and Office Machine Repairers, SOC 49-2011. For Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN, the May 2025 OEWS annual median is $45,710; the middle half runs from $37,850 to $56,810. This is a proxy, not a separate wage estimate for this exact job. BLS does not separate seniority titles that share this row. Tell candidates whether the job is ticket-led work, deployment or independent fault-finding. Titles can share a BLS row even when the floor responsibilities and shift expectations differ.

The middle-half spread is $18,960: $7,860 from the 25th percentile to the median and $11,100 from the median to the 75th. The upper interval is wider. Use these points to compare an offer, not to price a junior or senior hire. Percentiles are not experience bands, and this distribution alone does not explain why individual workers earn different amounts.

The local median is $2,100 below the national $47,810 on the same annual basis. Both rows cover SOC 49-2011 in May 2025. This is a wage comparison, not a cost-of-living adjustment or evidence of a separate data center premium.

Rockford, IL reports a annual median of $47,220 for this occupation in May 2025. It is one of the two nearest usable metro reference points, measured from the Census area internal point. That is $1,510 above Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN's median.

Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI reports a annual median of $48,010 for this occupation in May 2025. It is one of the two nearest usable metro reference points, measured from the Census area internal point. That is $2,300 above Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN's median.

The highest exact national industry medians in the loaded SOC 49-2011 rows are Navigational, Measuring, Electromedical, and Control Instruments Manufacturing at $77,420 and Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences at $70,940. These are May 2025 national occupation estimates, not local data center pay. The loaded data has no local industry-by-occupation breakdown, so it cannot rank industries within Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN.

The matched median moved from $46,340 in May 2024 to $45,710 in May 2025: $630 lower. Both rows use SOC 49-2011, area 16980 and the same annual basis. This is not adjusted for inflation or annualized, and it does not attribute the change to a particular employer.

OEWS includes base rates, guaranteed pay, commissions and production incentives. It excludes on-call waiting or availability pay, overtime, shift differentials, nonproduction bonuses and benefits. The on-call exclusion covers time awaiting a call to work, not ordinary wages for hours actually worked. This is neither pure base salary nor total compensation. Agree travel, per diem and relocation terms separately. No verified Rack and Stack / Hardware Deployment Technician-specific allowance is in this occupation row, so none is added to the figures.

Questions about Rack and Stack / Hardware Deployment Technician pay in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN

Which BLS row supports Rack and Stack / Hardware Deployment Technician pay in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN?

Rack and Stack / Hardware Deployment Technician maps to SOC 49-2011, Computer, Automated Teller, and Office Machine Repairers. The May 2025 annual median for Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN is $45,710. The proxy mapping is not a separate survey of this niche title.

Does the figure cover the whole offer for Rack and Stack / Hardware Deployment Technician?

OEWS includes base rates, guaranteed pay, commissions and production incentives. It excludes on-call waiting or availability pay, overtime, shift differentials, nonproduction bonuses and benefits. The on-call exclusion covers time awaiting a call to work, not ordinary wages for hours actually worked. Travel and relocation terms still need their own discussion; this row supplies no separate allowance.

Nearest-area selection uses Census Gazetteer internal points, not road distance. Source: 2025 Census Gazetteer.