Chicago vs New York City for couples

Chicago and New York City are both in the United States, about 1,146 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. Chicago leads on cost.

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Side by side

Factor	Chicago	New York City
Country	United States	United States
Size	Large: 1 to 5 million people	Major: over 5 million people
Setting	Inland	Coastal
Est. cost for a couple	€4,338 a month	€4,640 a month
Tax tier	Low to medium tax	Low to medium tax
Average temperature	11°C	13°C
Rainfall	991 mm a year	1,203 mm a year
Safety	52 / 100	52 / 100
Healthcare	70 / 100	70 / 100
Internet (median fixed)	~220 Mbps	~220 Mbps
Main languages	English	English
English	English everywhere	English everywhere
Long-term residency	Possible, with conditions	Possible, with conditions
Self-funded income route	None tracked	None tracked
Visa-free short visits	4 of 198 passports	4 of 198 passports

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

Chicago is cheaper: we estimate about €4,338 a month for a couple living centrally, against €4,640 in New York City. That is €302 a month, or 7%, less.

Taxes

Same country, same tax: the United States is in our low to medium tax tier.

Climate

New York City is 2°C warmer on average over the year: 13°C against 11°C in Chicago. Chicago is drier, with about 991 mm of rain a year against 1,203 mm in New York City (18% less).

Safety

Our safety score is country-level, so both cities get the same 52 out of 100.

Healthcare

Our healthcare score is country-level, so both cities get the same 70 out of 100.

Internet

Our broadband figure is country-level: about 220 Mbps median fixed download in both.

Language

Main languages in both: English. English proficiency is rated the same in both: English everywhere.

Residency and visas

Same country, same rules: long-term residency in the United States is rated possible, with conditions.

Which one fits a couple

On the factors we measure, Chicago leads on cost (€4,338 against €4,640 a month), and New York City leads on none of them. What our data does not cover can still tip it toward New York City: jobs, family nearby, or simply which one each of you prefers after a visit.

Climate can pull the two of you apart too: a partner who wants warmth leans toward New York City (13°C on average), while one who minds the heat leans toward Chicago (11°C).

Size differs too: Chicago is a large city (1 to 5 million people) and New York City a major one (over 5 million people). Chicago is inland; New York City is coastal.

OurNextCity has each partner answer 12 questions privately, then ranks Chicago, New York City and 913 other cities for both of you at once.

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