VacationSelector
Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago
ChicagoCloud Gate in Millennium Park
Santo Domingo church behind agaves, Oaxaca
OaxacaSanto Domingo church behind agaves

Photos: Chicago by Jesus Toledo, Pexels License; Oaxaca by Öskr Rck, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Chicago or Oaxaca?

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
  • live music and the arts
  • families

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

Choose Oaxaca for

  • prices
  • day trips
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Oaxaca’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, Oaxaca 5: Chicago leads by 45 points.
Food & drink. Chicago 80, Oaxaca 84: Oaxaca leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Chicago 78, Oaxaca 74: Chicago leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Chicago 77, Oaxaca 40: Chicago leads by 37 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chicago 48, Oaxaca 62: Oaxaca leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Chicago 42, Oaxaca 65: Oaxaca leads by 23 points.
Good for families. Chicago 78, Oaxaca 40: Chicago leads by 38 points.
Getting around. Chicago 72, Oaxaca 55: Chicago leads by 17 points.
Shopping & style. Chicago 70, Oaxaca 62: Chicago leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Chicago 33, Oaxaca 77: Oaxaca leads by 44 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chicago 82, Oaxaca 38: Chicago leads by 44 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chicago 33, Oaxaca 50: Oaxaca leads by 17 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chicago and Oaxaca.

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 live music and the arts with your weighting.

Oaxaca
54match

Wins on prices 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
No recordsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Oaxaca in July

28 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
80 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
ChicagoOaxaca

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chicago: 1991-2020 normals, Chicago Midway Airport (14.5 km from centre). Oaxaca: 1961-1990 normals, Oaxaca, Oax. (1.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChicagoOaxaca
Official language-Spanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC-6
Emergency number911911
Elevation179 m1,555 m
Main airportChicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)25 km from centre274 non-stop destinationsXoxocotlán International Airport (OAX)7 km from centre14 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureChicagoOaxaca
City population2,746,388258,913
People per km²4,5293,028
Museums within 10 km4410
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
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 Oaxaca 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.