High ISO: jpeg or RAW?

I've been out to the clubs the past couple of nights taking pics.  The 2nd night, the lighting wasn't as bright as the previous night.  I was shooting at ISO2000 RAW both nights.  The noise level was rather high on the second night.  Yet, when i see people post their shots at higher ISOs, i don't see nearly as much noise.  Is this due to shooting in jpeg?  Is there more noise in the RAW files?  I had to do a lot of PP to get rid of the noise, which i wasn't thrilled about.