Does anyone know the average cost for a female pug puppy in the Chicagpland area from a quality breeder?
You really should know better than this by now!
Pure bred pups from reputable breeders are often more expensive than you will see in your local classified ads. That being said, prices can very pending conditions of sale. If you go to the attached link, you will find a listing of breeder clubs in Illinois. I suggest you contact the most likely one for information and advice.
Better than what?
Anything under $500 in Chicagoland, and it’s almost certainly not a “reputable breeder”, but a puppy mill. (For a *female *pug. Boys are about $100 cheaper.)
I am a proud pug owner and I live in Chicago.
There are a few good pug breeders but we got ours from the Doane family in Indiana. They have a great reputation and were highly recommended to us. If I remember right, our pug Wilco cost about $650 and that included delivery to Chicago (they sell mostly to this area so when a litter is old enough, they can drive them all up here and deliver them over a day or two.)
I have nothing but good things to say about our experience w/ the Doane family, and Wilco has had zero issues healthwise and is of very good temperment. He’s dumb as a bag of hammers and farts a lot , but that’s what you get w/ a pug. 
Here’s a link to their website. Check them out.
You can get an absolutely rock-solid pug from a shelter or breed-specific rescue. You’re not founding a line of breeding pugs, are you? If not, buying a pet-quality animal isn’t necessary at all. Rescue, rehome, adopt!
Getting a three month old female pug without health issues is unlikely. I have looked a resues and adult males are the norm. Female puppies are almost non-existant.
Pug Puppy cost Chicagoland
I saw this thread title and figured there’d been a tragic incident like the one involving Mrs. O’Leary’s cow. 
You’re sad Chicago wasn’t destroyed? It’s not like it’s Dallas.
Getting a three-month old female might involve having to wait a bit and look around, sure. Still better than aiding and abetting the puppymill industry. And if you’re not buying championship stock you are, effectively, buying puppymill – because the dog overpopulation problem is so extreme that any breeding outside of championship show lines (and I only grudgingly make an exception for that) is essentially unneccessary. Your cost concern leads me to believe you are not starting a championship show line; therefore your options, by default, are either shelters/rescues or puppymills.
Getting one without health problems is almost guaranteed. Breed-specific rescues are a much likelier place to get a healthy dog than for-sale operations. Rescues have such an overflow that they CANNOT place all dogs, so, since they can only place a few, they place the best/healthiest.
In contrast, for-sale operations want to move all product to make room for more product.
Most of the rescuced pugs I have seen do have health issues. Some of the pugs have been literally rescued from puppy mills or the owners gave them up because of defects.
Me too! Now I want to make up creative headlines. “Emergency workers help dog bite victim.”
Don’t feel the need to justify your choice to buy a purebred pup to anyone. And only a fool would categorize all breeders as puppymills.
Don’t know about pugs, but goldens sure run higher than $650 around here. We’re picking up an 8 week old pup this Friday to go with our 11 month old.