Calgary vs Chicago for couples
Calgary, in Canada, and Chicago, in the United States, are about 2,252 km apart. Every figure below comes from the data behind our city pages: an estimated monthly cost for a couple, tax tier, annual climate, safety, healthcare, internet speed, language and residency rules. Calgary leads on cost, safety and residency rules; Chicago on tax and internet speed.
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Side by side
Source: the datasets behind our city pages. Cost is our model estimate (a country-level cost index scaled for city size); tax tiers are assigned by hand from each country's top marginal income tax rate and overall tax reputation; temperature from the Open-Meteo archive (2019 to 2023 averages); rainfall from TerraClimate (1991 to 2020 normals); safety and healthcare are our own country-level estimates; internet from the Ookla Speedtest Global Index; English from the EF English Proficiency Index; residency from our hand-reviewed residency dataset (not legal advice); short-stay entry from the passport-index dataset.
Factor by factor
Cost of living
Calgary is cheaper: we estimate about €3,872 a month for a couple living centrally, against €4,338 in Chicago. That is €466 a month, or 11%, less.
Taxes
Chicago has the lighter tax load: the United States is in our low to medium tax tier, Canada in our high tax tier.
Climate
Chicago is 7°C warmer on average over the year: 11°C against 4°C in Calgary. Calgary is drier, with about 420 mm of rain a year against 991 mm in Chicago (58% less).
Safety
Calgary is the safer pick: Canada scores 60 out of 100 on safety, 8 points above the United States (52).
Healthcare
Close: Canada scores 72 out of 100 on healthcare and the United States 70.
Internet
Chicago has faster home internet: about 220 Mbps median fixed download against about 170 Mbps in Calgary.
Language
Main languages: English, French in Calgary; English in Chicago. English proficiency is rated the same in both: English everywhere.
Residency and visas
Long-term residency is easier to obtain in Canada (comparatively open) than in the United States (possible, with conditions). For short visits, 1 of 198 passports can enter Canada visa-free and 4 can enter the United States.
Which one fits a couple
If one of you puts cost (€3,872 against €4,338 a month), safety (60 against 52 out of 100) and residency rules (comparatively open against possible, with conditions) first, Calgary comes out ahead. If the other cares more about tax (low to medium tax against high tax) and internet speed (220 Mbps against 170 Mbps), Chicago does.
Climate can pull the two of you apart too: a partner who wants warmth leans toward Chicago (11°C on average), while one who minds the heat leans toward Calgary (4°C), and whoever minds rain will prefer Calgary (420 mm a year against 991 mm).
OurNextCity has each partner answer 12 questions privately, then ranks Calgary, Chicago and 913 other cities for both of you at once.