VacationSelector
Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago
ChicagoCloud Gate in Millennium Park
The skyline and the Rocky Mountains over City Park and Ferril Lake, Denver
DenverThe skyline and the Rocky Mountains over City Park and Ferril Lake

Photos: Chicago by Jesus Toledo, Pexels License; Denver by Zenhaus, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Chicago or Denver?

Our verdict in twelve categories, each scored against the same fixed benchmark cities, and the climate month by month, so you can choose for your trip.

Choose Chicago for

  • beaches
  • culture and sights
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Chicago’s own page.

Choose Denver for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Denver’s own page.

Scoreboard

Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.

Beaches & swimming. Chicago 50, Denver 5: Chicago leads by 45 points.
Food & drink. Chicago 80, Denver 54: Chicago leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Chicago 78, Denver 44: Chicago leads by 34 points.
Nightlife. Chicago 77, Denver 47: Chicago leads by 30 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chicago 48, Denver 84: Denver leads by 36 points.
Day trips. Chicago 42, Denver 57: Denver leads by 15 points.
Good for families. Chicago 78, Denver 67: Chicago leads by 11 points.
Getting around. Chicago 72, Denver 40: Chicago leads by 32 points.
Shopping & style. Chicago 70, Denver 44: Chicago leads by 26 points.
Affordability. Chicago 33, Denver 36: Denver leads by 3 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chicago 82, Denver 66: Chicago leads by 16 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chicago 33, Denver 40: Denver leads by 7 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chicago and Denver.

Your match

Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.

Chicago
Best match
62match

Wins on beaches and culture and sights with your weighting.

Denver
49match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and day trips with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Chicago in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
102 mmrain in the month
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Denver in July

32 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
55 mmrain in the month
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
ChicagoDenver

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chicago: 1991-2020 normals, Chicago Midway Airport (14.5 km from centre). Denver: 1991-2020 normals, Denver / Stapleton International, Co. (11.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChicagoDenver
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC-7, UTC-6 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation179 m1,609 m
Main airportChicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)25 km from centre274 non-stop destinationsDenver International Airport (DEN)30 km from centre231 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureChicagoDenver
City population2,746,388715,522
People per km²4,5291,783
Museums within 10 km4426
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 month-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Chicago or Denver somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. Rainfall where no rain gauge is within 25 km is from the TerraClimate 1991-2020 climatology (Abatzoglou et al. 2018, Scientific Data), read at the city. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. Non-stop route lists from the "Airlines and destinations" tables on English Wikipedia airport articles, by Wikipedia contributors, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Currency from the ISO 4217 register maintained by SIX, cross-checked against country data from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Price level from World Bank open data (PPP conversion factor for private consumption and official exchange rate), CC BY 4.0. Time zones from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0); clock offsets computed from the IANA time zone database. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm.

Category scores are our editorial verdict under rubric v3, each placed against the same fixed benchmark cities; the climate figures are measured. How the scores are set. Snapshot generated 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.