VacationSelector
Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago
ChicagoCloud Gate in Millennium Park
The old Tampa Bay Hotel across the river, Tampa
TampaThe old Tampa Bay Hotel across the river

Photos: Chicago by Jesus Toledo, Pexels License; Tampa by Ken Lund, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Chicago or Tampa?

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

  • getting around
  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Tampa for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Tampa’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, Tampa 70: Tampa leads by 20 points.
Food & drink. Chicago 80, Tampa 57: Chicago leads by 23 points.
Culture & sights. Chicago 78, Tampa 42: Chicago leads by 36 points.
Nightlife. Chicago 77, Tampa 52: Chicago leads by 25 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chicago 48, Tampa 55: Tampa leads by 7 points.
Day trips. Chicago 42, Tampa 54: Tampa leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Chicago and Tampa are level on 78.
Getting around. Chicago 72, Tampa 22: Chicago leads by 50 points.
Shopping & style. Chicago 70, Tampa 40: Chicago leads by 30 points.
Affordability. Chicago 33, Tampa 40: Tampa leads by 7 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chicago 82, Tampa 47: Chicago leads by 35 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chicago 33, Tampa 30: Chicago leads by 3 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chicago and Tampa.

Your match

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

Chicago
Best match
62match

Wins on getting around and culture and sights with your weighting.

Tampa
49match

Wins on beaches 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

Tampa in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
197 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
ChicagoTampa

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chicago: 1991-2020 normals, Chicago Midway Airport (14.5 km from centre). Tampa: 1991-2020 normals, Tampa International Airport (7.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChicagoTampa
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation179 m30 m
Main airportChicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)25 km from centre274 non-stop destinationsTampa International Airport (TPA)8 km from centre101 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureChicagoTampa
City population2,746,388384,959
People per km²4,529848
Museums within 10 km446
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 month8 months

Where else could you go?

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