Who Buys Copper Wire Near Me? I'm Chicago's Copper Buyer.

Search for a copper wire buyer near you and you'll mostly get thin directory pages and lead forms — pages built to collect your phone number, not to buy your wire. A local listing with no buying process behind it is not a buyer; it's a phone number. A real buyer publishes what he pays for, how he prices it, and how pickup works. This page is the whole thing: I buy scrap copper wire, I price it from photos, and in the Chicago area I come grab it the same day.

Bare bright copper. Clean, uncoated, untarnished copper wire — no insulation, no paint, no oxidation. Bright shiny copper, usually thicker than a pencil lead. This is the top grade because it's pure copper straight through.

#1 insulated wire. Copper wire with the jacket still on — thicker than about 16 gauge, clean and untarnished underneath. Most of the wire pulled out of houses and commercial buildings lands here.

#2 insulated wire. Thinner wire, or wire that's tarnished, has paint on it, or has some attachments mixed in. Still good money — it's just graded differently because the copper content per pound is lower.

Romex. The flat or round cable with two or more insulated wires plus a ground inside a plastic jacket — the stuff inside your walls. Builders, electricians and demo crews pull this by the bucket.

THHN. The single copper wires with thin thermoplastic insulation — usually pulled through conduit in commercial buildings. Often sold in the same lot as the conduit it came out of.

MC cable (metal-clad). Wires wrapped in a spiral aluminum or steel armor jacket. Still copper inside and still worth selling — the armor just gets factored into the grade.

Copper vs. aluminum — check before you call. Overhead utility wire and some service cable is aluminum, which pays a fraction of copper. Quick checks: aluminum is lighter and silver-gray when you scratch the insulation back; copper is heavy and salmon-orange underneath. If you're not sure, send me a photo and I'll tell you what you've got. Selling aluminum as copper is how people get bad offers — I'd rather grade it right from the photo.

For a deeper walkthrough of every grade, see the copper wire grades guide and how I buy copper.

I don't publish per-pound prices, and you should be skeptical of any buyer who does — copper prices move with the market every single day, so a number on a page is either old or a bait price. Here's what actually decides what your wire pays:

• Cleanliness. Clean bare or clean insulated wire pays top grade. Dirt, oil, paint, attachments and mixed material knock the grade down — keep the wire clean and it stays at top grade.
• Gauge (thickness). Thicker wire has more copper per pound, so it grades higher. Thin wire like communications cable still pays, just at a different grade.
• Insulation type. How much copper is inside the jacket decides the grade. Heavy-jacketed or foil-wrapped cable has less recoverable copper than the same thickness of clean wire.
• Keep it separate. Bare bright mixed into insulated wire gets paid at the lower grade for the whole lot. Five minutes of separation when you pull it is real money.

The process is the same for everyone: you send photos, I give you today's number, and that's the number you get when I show up. For the full picture on how I price, read how copper pricing works.

In the Chicago metro, I pick up copper wire the same day you call — that's my Chicago promise. I come grab it, pay cash, and the pile is gone before your crew leaves the site. Arlington Heights, Aurora, Berwyn, Bolingbrook, Buffalo Grove, Chicago Heights, Cicero, Des Plaines, Downers Grove, Elgin, Elk Grove Village, Elmhurst, Evanston, Franklin Park, Glenview, Hoffman Estates, Joliet, Lombard, Melrose Park, Mount Prospect, Naperville, Oak Brook, Oak Lawn, Orland Park, Palatine, Schaumburg, Skokie, Tinley Park, Waukegan, Wheaton — plus Hammond and Gary in northwest Indiana.

Outside Chicago, I travel nationwide for the right load. Send photos and I'll tell you when I can be there. No long form, no waiting on a dispatcher — call 312-880-8174 and talk to me directly.

Who buys copper wire near me in Chicago?

I do. I'm Sonny, Chicago's copper buyer — I buy scrap copper wire and cable across the Chicago metro with same-day pickup. Call 312-880-8174 or text a photo of your pile.

How much is my copper wire worth?

It depends on the grade (bare bright vs. insulated, gauge, cleanliness) and today's market — prices move daily. Text photos of what you have and I'll give you a firm number before I come out.

Do I need to strip the insulation off?

No. I buy insulated wire as-is and grade it from the photos. Stripping wire by hand rarely pays for the labor — send it jacketed and let me price it.

Will you come to my house or job site?

Yes. In the Chicago metro I come to you the same day. Outside Chicago I travel nationwide for worthwhile loads — send photos and I'll tell you when I can be there.

Do you buy small amounts?

Yes — there's no minimum. A bucket of offcuts from one job and a truckload from a demolition get the same treatment.

How do I get paid?

Cash at pickup, with clear documentation for your records. The price I quote from your photos is the price you get.

What about aluminum wire?

I mainly buy copper, but send a photo anyway — I'll tell you what you've got and whether it's worth a pickup. Scratch the jacket back: salmon-orange means copper, silver-gray means aluminum.