VacationSelector
Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago
ChicagoCloud Gate in Millennium Park
The towers of Panama City reflected in the bay in golden light, Panama City
Panama CityThe towers of Panama City reflected in the bay in golden light

Photos: Chicago by Jesus Toledo, Pexels License; Panama City by Ayaita, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Chicago or Panama City?

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

  • live music and the arts
  • families
  • getting around

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

Choose Panama City for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Panama City’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, Panama City 44: Chicago leads by 6 points.
Food & drink. Chicago 80, Panama City 57: Chicago leads by 23 points.
Culture & sights. Chicago 78, Panama City 62: Chicago leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Chicago 77, Panama City 62: Chicago leads by 15 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chicago 48, Panama City 74: Panama City leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Chicago 42, Panama City 50: Panama City leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Chicago 78, Panama City 45: Chicago leads by 33 points.
Getting around. Chicago 72, Panama City 40: Chicago leads by 32 points.
Shopping & style. Chicago 70, Panama City 52: Chicago leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Chicago 33, Panama City 55: Panama City leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chicago 82, Panama City 34: Chicago leads by 48 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chicago 33, Panama City 22: Chicago leads by 11 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chicago and Panama City.

Your match

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

Chicago
Best match
62match

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

Panama City
50match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and prices 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

Panama City in July

31 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
161 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
ChicagoPanama City

Where the figures come from

Panama City has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chicago: 1991-2020 normals, Chicago Midway Airport (14.5 km from centre). Panama City: 1991-2020 normals, Tocumen (20.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChicagoPanama City
Official language-Spanish
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Balboa (PAB)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC-5
Emergency number911911
Elevation179 m20 m
Main airportChicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)25 km from centre274 non-stop destinationsTocumen International Airport (PTY)20 km from centre92 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureChicagoPanama City
City population2,746,3881,540,000
People per km²4,5295,600
Museums within 10 km4410
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
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 Panama City 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.