{"h1":"Best cities for software and engineering jobs in the Great Lakes","faq":[{"a":"Chicago has the most software and engineering openings in the Great Lakes: 1,140 openings, in a market where engineering is 21% of openings across all cities in our data.","q":"Which city ranks first: best cities for software and engineering jobs in the great lakes?"},{"a":"48 cities have at least 30 engineering openings, so the list has 48 entries.","q":"How many cities are ranked?"},{"a":"A city is ranked on the number of its open professional roles classed in the engineering function, which includes software, hardware and data engineering. Median engineering pay uses only listings that post a salary, and is shown only where at least 8 do. Cities need at least the minimum number of engineering openings to be ranked. A city where one employer posts more than 50% of its openings is not ranked, so a single company cannot decide a city's score.","q":"How is the ranking calculated?"},{"a":"Every month. This is the November 2026 edition. Older editions stay on this site at their own dated addresses.","q":"How often is it updated?"}],"lead":"Chicago has the most software and engineering openings in the Great Lakes: 1,140 openings, in a market where engineering is 21% of openings across all cities in our data.","minN":30,"rows":[{"n":1140,"bar":1,"key":"IL|chicago","sub":"IL","href":"/places/illinois/city/chicago","name":"Chicago","rank":1,"stats":[{"label":"Share of all openings","value":"14%"},{"label":"Median engineering pay","value":"$150k"},{"label":"All openings","value":"8,033"}],"value":1140,"change":null,"employers":["Publicis Groupe","Confidential","Mars"],"valueLabel":"1,140 openings"},{"n":327,"bar":0.2868421052631579,"key":"IN|indianapolis","sub":"IN","href":"/places/indiana/city/indianapolis","name":"Indianapolis","rank":2,"stats":[{"label":"Share of all openings","value":"22%"},{"label":"Median engineering pay","value":"$125k"},{"label":"All 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Cities need at least the minimum number of engineering openings to be ranked.","A city where one employer posts more than 50% of its openings is not ranked, so a single company cannot decide a city's score."],"builtAt":"2026-11-04T03:37:37.436Z","edition":"2026-11","measure":"swe","sources":["NextChapter job data: open professional roles on employer career sites, verified in the last week"],"baseline":{"label":"all cities in our data","valueLabel":"21%"},"keyFacts":["#1 Chicago, IL: 1,140 openings","#2 Indianapolis, IN: 327 openings","#3 Columbus, OH: 316 openings","48 cities ranked in the Great Lakes","Data as of November 2026"],"placeNoun":"cities","commentary":["The lead is wide: Chicago (1,140 openings) is well clear of Fort Wayne at #10 (113 openings).","Fort Wayne reaches #10 on a sample of 113 engineering openings, a smaller market than most of the top ten, so its rank can move more from month to month.","Chicago is the largest market in the top ten, with 1,140 engineering openings behind its figure.","Cities with fewer than 30 engineering openings are not ranked, and small differences between neighbouring ranks are not meaningful."],"license":"Free to use and share with a link to https://launchyournextchapter.com/rankings/best-cities-for-software-engineering-jobs-in-the-great-lakes"}