VacationSelector
Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago
ChicagoCloud Gate in Millennium Park
The steamboat Natchez on the Mississippi, New Orleans
New OrleansThe steamboat Natchez on the Mississippi

Photos: Chicago by Jesus Toledo, Pexels License; New Orleans by Bernard Spragg, CC0.

Chicago or New Orleans?

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
  • families
  • getting around

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

Choose New Orleans for

  • day trips
  • nightlife
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on New Orleans’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, New Orleans 14: Chicago leads by 36 points.
Food & drink. Chicago 80, New Orleans 84: New Orleans leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Chicago 78, New Orleans 67: Chicago leads by 11 points.
Nightlife. Chicago 77, New Orleans 85: New Orleans leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chicago 48, New Orleans 42: Chicago leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Chicago 42, New Orleans 52: New Orleans leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Chicago 78, New Orleans 55: Chicago leads by 23 points.
Getting around. Chicago 72, New Orleans 55: Chicago leads by 17 points.
Shopping & style. Chicago 70, New Orleans 54: Chicago leads by 16 points.
Affordability. Chicago 33, New Orleans 40: New Orleans leads by 7 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chicago 82, New Orleans 80: Chicago leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chicago 33, New Orleans 25: Chicago leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chicago and New Orleans.

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 families with your weighting.

New Orleans
54match

Wins on day trips 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

New Orleans in July

33 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
169 mmrain in the month
30 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
ChicagoNew Orleans

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chicago: 1991-2020 normals, Chicago Midway Airport (14.5 km from centre). New Orleans: 1991-2020 normals, New Orleans Airport (2.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChicagoNew Orleans
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC-6, UTC-5 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation179 m-2 m
Main airportChicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)25 km from centre274 non-stop destinationsLouis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY)18 km from centre51 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureChicagoNew Orleans
City population2,746,388383,997
People per km²4,529423
Museums within 10 km4416
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 month7 months

Where else could you go?

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