VacationSelector
Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago
ChicagoCloud Gate in Millennium Park
Shitennō-ji temple, Osaka
OsakaShitennō-ji temple

Photos: Chicago by Jesus Toledo, Pexels License; Osaka by Sarmat Batagov, Pexels License.

Chicago or Osaka?

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
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Osaka for

  • day trips
  • wellness
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Osaka’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, Osaka 34: Chicago leads by 16 points.
Food & drink. Chicago 80, Osaka 91: Osaka leads by 11 points.
Culture & sights. Chicago 78, Osaka 63: Chicago leads by 15 points.
Nightlife. Chicago 77, Osaka 80: Osaka leads by 3 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chicago 48, Osaka 58: Osaka leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Chicago 42, Osaka 97: Osaka leads by 55 points.
Good for families. Chicago 78, Osaka 88: Osaka leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Chicago 72, Osaka 90: Osaka leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Chicago 70, Osaka 80: Osaka leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Chicago 33, Osaka 60: Osaka leads by 27 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chicago 82, Osaka 66: Chicago leads by 16 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chicago 33, Osaka 66: Osaka leads by 33 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chicago and Osaka.

Your match

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

Chicago
62match

Wins on beaches and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Osaka
Best match
73match

Wins on day trips and wellness 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

Osaka in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
175 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
ChicagoOsaka

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chicago: 1991-2020 normals, Chicago Midway Airport (14.5 km from centre). Osaka: 1991-2020 normals, Osaka (1.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChicagoOsaka
Official language-Japanese
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Yen (JPY)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the region
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC+9
Emergency number911Police 110, fire 119
Elevation179 m20 m
Main airportChicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)25 km from centre274 non-stop destinationsKansai International Airport (KIX)38 km from centre62 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureChicagoOsaka
City population2,746,3882,751,862
People per km²4,52912,340
Museums within 10 km4444
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km16
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 month5 months

Where else could you go?

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