Chicago vs Washington for couples

Chicago and Washington are both in the United States, about 956 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. Washington leads on cost.

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Side by side

Factor	Chicago	Washington
Country	United States	United States
Size	Large: 1 to 5 million people	Mid-sized: 250,000 to 1 million people
Setting	Inland	Coastal
Est. cost for a couple	€4,338 a month	€4,101 a month
Tax tier	Low to medium tax	Low to medium tax
Average temperature	11°C	14°C
Rainfall	991 mm a year	1,093 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

Washington is cheaper: we estimate about €4,101 a month for a couple living centrally, against €4,338 in Chicago. That is €237 a month, or 5%, less.

Taxes

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

Climate

Washington is 3°C warmer on average over the year: 14°C against 11°C in Chicago. Rainfall is similar: about 991 mm a year in Chicago and 1,093 mm in Washington.

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, Washington leads on cost (€4,101 against €4,338 a month), and Chicago leads on none of them. What our data does not cover can still tip it toward Chicago: 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 Washington (14°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 Washington a mid-sized one (250,000 to 1 million people). Chicago is inland; Washington is coastal.

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

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