VacationSelector
Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago
ChicagoCloud Gate in Millennium Park
The Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign, Las Vegas
Las VegasThe Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign

Photos: Chicago by Jesus Toledo, Pexels License; Las Vegas by Christian David, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Chicago or Las Vegas?

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

  • culture and sights
  • families
  • beaches

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

Choose Las Vegas for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • nightlife
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Las Vegas’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, Las Vegas 10: Chicago leads by 40 points.
Food & drink. Chicago 80, Las Vegas 68: Chicago leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Chicago 78, Las Vegas 25: Chicago leads by 53 points.
Nightlife. Chicago 77, Las Vegas 88: Las Vegas leads by 11 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chicago 48, Las Vegas 68: Las Vegas leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Chicago 42, Las Vegas 25: Chicago leads by 17 points.
Good for families. Chicago 78, Las Vegas 25: Chicago leads by 53 points.
Getting around. Chicago 72, Las Vegas 38: Chicago leads by 34 points.
Shopping & style. Chicago 70, Las Vegas 64: Chicago leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Chicago 33, Las Vegas 35: Las Vegas leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chicago 82, Las Vegas 78: Chicago leads by 4 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chicago 33, Las Vegas 40: Las Vegas leads by 7 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Chicago
Best match
62match

Wins on culture and sights and families with your weighting.

Las Vegas
47match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and nightlife 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

Las Vegas in July

40 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
9 mmrain in the month
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
ChicagoLas Vegas

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chicago: 1991-2020 normals, Chicago Midway Airport (14.5 km from centre). Las Vegas: 1991-2020 normals, McCarran International Airport (8.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChicagoLas Vegas
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation179 m610 m
Main airportChicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)25 km from centre274 non-stop destinationsHarry Reid International Airport (LAS)4 km from centre159 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureChicagoLas Vegas
City population2,746,388641,903
People per km²4,5291,843
Museums within 10 km4421
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 Las Vegas 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.