VacationSelector
Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago
ChicagoCloud Gate in Millennium Park
Gastown, Vancouver
VancouverGastown

Photos: Chicago by Jesus Toledo, Pexels License; Vancouver by Xicotencatl, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Chicago or Vancouver?

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

  • culture and sights
  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Vancouver for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Vancouver’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, Vancouver 42: Chicago leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. Chicago 80, Vancouver 72: Chicago leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Chicago 78, Vancouver 42: Chicago leads by 36 points.
Nightlife. Chicago 77, Vancouver 42: Chicago leads by 35 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chicago 48, Vancouver 97: Vancouver leads by 49 points.
Day trips. Chicago 42, Vancouver 45: Vancouver leads by 3 points.
Good for families. Chicago 78, Vancouver 72: Chicago leads by 6 points.
Getting around. Chicago 72, Vancouver 73: Vancouver leads by 1 points.
Shopping & style. Chicago 70, Vancouver 55: Chicago leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Chicago 33, Vancouver 27: Chicago leads by 6 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chicago 82, Vancouver 52: Chicago leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chicago 33, Vancouver 50: Vancouver leads by 17 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chicago and Vancouver.

Your match

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

Chicago
Best match
62match

Wins on culture and sights and nightlife with your weighting.

Vancouver
56match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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

Vancouver in July

23 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
42 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
16 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
ChicagoVancouver

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chicago: 1991-2020 normals, Chicago Midway Airport (14.5 km from centre). Vancouver: 1991-2020 normals, Vancouver Harbour CS (4.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChicagoVancouver
Official language-French, English
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation179 m2 m
Main airportChicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)25 km from centre274 non-stop destinationsVancouver International Airport (YVR)9 km from centre109 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureChicagoVancouver
City population2,746,388662,248
People per km²4,5295,759
Museums within 10 km4426
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
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 Vancouver 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.