Chicago vs Ottawa for couples

Chicago, in the United States, and Ottawa, in Canada, are about 1,039 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 tax and internet speed; Ottawa on cost, safety and residency rules.

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Side by side

Factor	Chicago	Ottawa
Country	United States	Canada
Size	Large: 1 to 5 million people	Large: 1 to 5 million people
Setting	Inland	Inland
Est. cost for a couple	€4,338 a month	€3,832 a month
Tax tier	Low to medium tax	High tax
Average temperature	11°C	7°C
Rainfall	991 mm a year	949 mm a year
Safety	52 / 100	60 / 100
Healthcare	70 / 100	72 / 100
Internet (median fixed)	~220 Mbps	~170 Mbps
Main languages	English	English, French
English	English everywhere	English everywhere
Long-term residency	Possible, with conditions	Comparatively open
Self-funded income route	None tracked	None tracked
Visa-free short visits	4 of 198 passports	1 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

Ottawa is cheaper: we estimate about €3,832 a month for a couple living centrally, against €4,338 in Chicago. That is €506 a month, or 12%, 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 4°C warmer on average over the year: 11°C against 7°C in Ottawa. Rainfall is similar: about 991 mm a year in Chicago and 949 mm in Ottawa.

Safety

Ottawa is the safer pick: Canada scores 60 out of 100 on safety, 8 points above the United States (52).

Healthcare

Close: the United States scores 70 out of 100 on healthcare and Canada 72.

Internet

Chicago has faster home internet: about 220 Mbps median fixed download against about 170 Mbps in Ottawa.

Language

Main languages: English in Chicago; English, French in Ottawa. 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, 4 of 198 passports can enter the United States visa-free and 1 can enter Canada.

Which one fits a couple

If one of you puts tax (low to medium tax against high tax) and internet speed (220 Mbps against 170 Mbps) first, Chicago comes out ahead. If the other cares more about cost (€3,832 against €4,338 a month), safety (60 against 52 out of 100) and residency rules (comparatively open against possible, with conditions), Ottawa 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 Ottawa (7°C).

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

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