Illinois Wind jobs: 9,216 employed (2024)
As of the 2025 U.S. Energy & Employment Report, Illinois employs 9,216 people in the wind sector — about 6.9% of the U.S. total. That makes Illinois the 2nd-largest state for wind jobs nationwide.
Wind Jobs in Illinois (2024)
National share: 6.93% of all U.S. wind jobs.
Typical Median Wage
1. Employment Landscape
Illinois ranks 2nd out of 51 U.S. states in wind employment. At 9,216 workers, the state sits above the 25th-ranked Arizona’s tally by 7,727 jobs, and trails the national leader Texas by 18,908 wind workers.
1.1 Illinois’s position vs. the top 10 and median states
1.2 Share of U.S. total
The wind sector nationwide employs roughly 132,984 workers; Illinois accounts for 9,216 of them.
1.3 Where Illinois sits in its own mix
| Sector | Jobs (2024) | National rank |
|---|---|---|
| Energy Efficiency | 89,878 | #5 |
| Wind | 9,216 | #2 |
| Solar | 7,158 | #15 |
| Electric Vehicles | 4,525 | #8 |
| Nuclear | 4,209 | #2 |
| Storage & Grid | 2,789 | #8 |
| Hydropower | 979 | #12 |
| Clean Fuels | 464 | #11 |
1.4 Sub-sector breakdown in Illinois
Every wind-related sub-category reported for Illinois in the USEER workbook, ranked by employment.
2. Pay & Career Roles in Illinois
Illinois contributes 6.93% of the nation’s wind workforce. Within Illinois’s own clean-energy economy, wind accounts for 7.7% of total clean-energy jobs (9,216 of 119,217 workers).
Cost-of-living in Illinois is roughly 0.9% higher the U.S. average, so the state-adjusted median wage for wind roles in Illinois is shown alongside the national BLS figure.
| Role | National median | Illinois-adjusted | Job Zone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wind Energy Engineer | $100,940 | $101,848 | 4 |
| Wind Turbine Service Technician | $61,770 | $62,326 | 3 |
4. Hiring Difficulty & Industry Mix
Illinois employers rate 17.2% of clean-energy hires as “very difficult” (plus 28.0% as “somewhat difficult”) — easier than the ~22% national baseline. Combined, 45.2% of Illinois’s clean-energy roles see some level of hiring friction.
4.1 Employer hiring difficulty
4.2 Jobs by NAICS industry group
| Industry (NAICS group) | Jobs (2024) |
|---|---|
| Manufacturing | 79,577 |
| Construction | 64,186 |
| Professional Services | 47,035 |
| Other Services | 45,006 |
| Trade | 32,565 |
| Utilities | 22,832 |
| Pipeline Transport & Commodity Flows | 12,286 |
| Mining and Extraction | 3,986 |
| Agriculture and Forestry | 2,939 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Data source: U.S. Department of Energy — 2025 U.S. Energy & Employment Report (reflecting 2024 employment); U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics; O*NET Occupation Database 29.1.
Last updated: April 2026.