VacationSelector
Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago
ChicagoCloud Gate in Millennium Park
The Riverwalk and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge, Wilmington
WilmingtonThe Riverwalk and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge

Photos: Chicago by Jesus Toledo, Pexels License; Wilmington by Unexpected Snacks, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Chicago or Wilmington?

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
  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Wilmington for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Wilmington’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, Wilmington 73: Wilmington leads by 23 points.
Food & drink. Chicago 80, Wilmington 48: Chicago leads by 32 points.
Culture & sights. Chicago 78, Wilmington 40: Chicago leads by 38 points.
Nightlife. Chicago 77, Wilmington 40: Chicago leads by 37 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chicago 48, Wilmington 58: Wilmington leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Chicago 42, Wilmington 45: Wilmington leads by 3 points.
Good for families. Chicago 78, Wilmington 62: Chicago leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Chicago 72, Wilmington 28: Chicago leads by 44 points.
Shopping & style. Chicago 70, Wilmington 33: Chicago leads by 37 points.
Affordability. Chicago 33, Wilmington 42: Wilmington leads by 9 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chicago 82, Wilmington 40: Chicago leads by 42 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chicago and Wilmington are level on 33.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chicago and Wilmington.

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 live music and the arts with your weighting.

Wilmington
45match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors 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

Wilmington in July

32 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
174 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
27 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
ChicagoWilmington

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chicago: 1991-2020 normals, Chicago Midway Airport (14.5 km from centre). Wilmington: 1991-2020 normals, Wilmington / The Palms Mobile Home Park (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChicagoWilmington
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 m9 m
Main airportChicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)25 km from centre274 non-stop destinationsWilmington International Airport (ILM)5 km from centre25 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureChicagoWilmington
City population2,746,388115,451
People per km²4,529839
Museums within 10 km442
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 month6 months

Where else could you go?

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