VacationSelector
Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago
ChicagoCloud Gate in Millennium Park
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica
Santa MonicaThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier

Photos: Chicago by Jesus Toledo, Pexels License; Santa Monica by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Chicago or Santa Monica?

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
  • culture and sights
  • nightlife

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

Choose Santa Monica for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Santa Monica’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, Santa Monica 66: Santa Monica leads by 16 points.
Food & drink. Chicago 80, Santa Monica 60: Chicago leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Chicago 78, Santa Monica 35: Chicago leads by 43 points.
Nightlife. Chicago 77, Santa Monica 38: Chicago leads by 39 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chicago 48, Santa Monica 72: Santa Monica leads by 24 points.
Day trips. Chicago 42, Santa Monica 64: Santa Monica leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Chicago 78, Santa Monica 70: Chicago leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Chicago 72, Santa Monica 52: Chicago leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Chicago 70, Santa Monica 56: Chicago leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Chicago 33, Santa Monica 14: Chicago leads by 19 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chicago 82, Santa Monica 38: Chicago leads by 44 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chicago 33, Santa Monica 45: Santa Monica leads by 12 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chicago and Santa Monica.

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 culture and sights with your weighting.

Santa Monica
51match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Santa Monica in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
ChicagoSanta Monica

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chicago: 1991-2020 normals, Chicago Midway Airport (14.5 km from centre). Santa Monica: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (13.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChicagoSanta Monica
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation179 m32 m
Main airportChicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)25 km from centre274 non-stop destinationsLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)11 km from centre177 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureChicagoSanta Monica
City population2,746,38893,076
People per km²4,5294,270
Museums within 10 km4419
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 monthNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Chicago or Santa Monica 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.