California is 5.1% cheaper than Chicago.

If you lived in California instead of Chicago, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 9.1% less for restaurants

 
Chicago
California
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant $25.00
 
$21.02
 
Fast food combo meal
McDonalds, or similar
$11.34
 
$11.52
 
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz) $3.02
 
$2.71
 

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pay 1.8% more for groceries

 
Chicago
California
Bread
1 loaf
$4.19
 
$4.14
 
Local cheese (8 oz) $7.87
 
$6.95
 
Milk (1 gallon) $3.94
 
$4.61
 

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pay 7.9% more for transportation

 
Chicago
California
Gasoline (1 gallon) $4.16
 
$4.83
 
Monthly public transit pass $75.00
 
$62.05
 
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition) $31,965.00
 
$30,005.28
 

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pay 22.2% more for housing

 
Chicago
California
Internet connection
50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl
$58.52
 
$68.54
 
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area $2,360.96
 
$2,371.29
 
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center $1,512.92
 
$2,055.18
 

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pay 29.4% less for childcare

 
Chicago
California
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly $2,475.00
 
$1,682.51
 
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters $42,300.00
 
$30,905.75
 

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pay 10.7% less for entertainment and sports

 
Chicago
California
Domestic/local beer (1 pint) $7.50
 
$7.00
 
Cappuccino in mid-range area $5.30
 
$5.34
 
Pack of cigarettes
Marlboro or similar
$17.00
 
$10.91
 

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pay 18.2% less for clothing

 
Chicago
California
Regular jeans
Levi's brand
$64.98
 
$52.77
 
Regular dress
from H&M or similar store
$51.67
 
$40.15
 
Running shoes
Nike or Adidas
$97.00
 
$85.15
 

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The statistics used to build this comparison are calculated using data from users just like you. We average the price of thousands of data points entered by users across the world. Learn more about our data sources. Page last updated: December 2024
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