VacationSelector
Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago
ChicagoCloud Gate in Millennium Park
A lifeguard stand on South Beach, Miami
MiamiA lifeguard stand on South Beach

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

Chicago or Miami?

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

  • getting around
  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Miami for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Miami’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, Miami 90: Miami leads by 40 points.
Food & drink. Chicago 80, Miami 72: Chicago leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Chicago 78, Miami 57: Chicago leads by 21 points.
Nightlife. Chicago 77, Miami 82: Miami leads by 5 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chicago 48, Miami 64: Miami leads by 16 points.
Day trips. Chicago and Miami are level on 42.
Good for families. Chicago 78, Miami 64: Chicago leads by 14 points.
Getting around. Chicago 72, Miami 35: Chicago leads by 37 points.
Shopping & style. Chicago 70, Miami 71: Miami leads by 1 points.
Affordability. Chicago 33, Miami 27: Chicago leads by 6 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chicago 82, Miami 55: Chicago leads by 27 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chicago 33, Miami 44: Miami leads by 11 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chicago and Miami.

Your match

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

Chicago
Best match
62match

Wins on getting around and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Miami
59match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors 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

Miami in July

33 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
186 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
ChicagoMiami

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chicago: 1991-2020 normals, Chicago Midway Airport (14.5 km from centre). Miami: 1991-2020 normals, Miami International Airport (10 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChicagoMiami
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation179 m2 m
Main airportChicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)25 km from centre274 non-stop destinationsMiami International Airport (MIA)7 km from centre198 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureChicagoMiami
City population2,746,388442,241
People per km²4,5293,046
Museums within 10 km4417
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 month12 months

Where else could you go?

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