Chicago vs San Francisco
Metro-area medians — Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN Metro Area vs San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA Metro Area — not the cities proper.
San Francisco comes out ahead, winning 5 of the 9 clearly-decided measures.
Chicago is about 12% cheaper to live in, while San Francisco households earn about 49% more. Adjusted for local prices, a typical paycheck stretches further in San Francisco.
For your salary & household
Enter your pay and household size to see what it's really worth here — the numbers update live and the link stays shareable.
On $75,000 for just you, Chicago leaves you about $5,178/yr better off after tax and local prices.
Take-home estimates a single filer taking the standard deduction (2025 federal brackets, FICA, and state income tax) and isn't tax advice. “Real value” rebases take-home to average U.S. prices using the BEA cost-of-living index; the per-person figure uses the OECD square-root equivalence scale.
Choose Chicago for
- + Cost of living (price level, US = 100)
- + Median rent
- + Median home value
- + Average commute
Choose San Francisco for
- + Livability (CityLedger)
- + Cost-adjusted income (pay's real value)
- + Median household income
- + Bachelor's degree or higher
- + Air quality (median AQI)
Chicago vs San Francisco — frequently asked
- Is Chicago cheaper than San Francisco?
- Chicago is cheaper: its overall cost of living runs about 12% below San Francisco's (BEA Regional Price Parities).
- Which has higher household income, Chicago or San Francisco?
- San Francisco has the higher median household income — $135,590 versus $90,770 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS), about 49% more.
- Does a paycheck go further in Chicago or San Francisco?
- A paycheck stretches further in San Francisco. Adjusted for local prices, the median income is worth $117,279 there versus $87,620 in Chicago.
- Which has cheaper rent, Chicago or San Francisco?
- Chicago has cheaper rent — a median of $1,469/mo versus $2,435/mo (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS).