Cost of Living in Chicago, IL

Population & Growth of Chicago, IL

Chicago is home to roughly 2,731,585 people as of 2025, making it the most populous city in Illinois. While the population is down 0.6% over the past five years, Chicago has seen growth for three straight years. The recent population rebound, along with increased demand and slowing construction rates, helps explain why housing costs here have climbed the way they have.

With apartment rents running high and space at a premium, renting a storage unit is an affordable way to free up room at home. A 5x10 storage unit in Chicago costs about $75 per month on average. If you're planning a move, Extra Space Storage has facilities in Lake View, Lincoln Park, River North, and many other Chicago neighborhoods to make it easier. Find a storage unit in Chicago today!

Cost of Living in Chicago, IL by Household Size

A single adult in Chicago needs about $42,646 per year after taxes to cover essentials. A family of four (two adults and two children) needs closer to $102,296 after taxes for the same categories, roughly 140% more than a single adult. The gap is driven mainly by larger housing, higher grocery costs, and childcare.

What Salary Do You Need to Live in Chicago, IL

Based on U.S. median household income adjusted for local cost of living in 2026, you'd need to earn around $96,864 per year to match the standard of living for a typical American household—about 18.7% higher than the U.S. median. For essentials only, MIT's Living Wage Calculator puts the floor at $42,646 after taxes for a single adult covering housing, groceries, transportation, and healthcare.

• Is $60,000 a good salary in Chicago? For a single person, yes, $60,000 is a good salary for essentials and most basic needs. But it still sits around 38% below the $96,864 cost-of-living-adjusted benchmark, so it won't leave as much room for savings or entertainment as the same salary would in a lower-cost market.

• Is $100,000 enough? For a single adult, $100,000 covers typical Chicago expenses with a small cushion, about 3% above the adjusted benchmark, though housing remains the highest cost.

For context, the minimum wage in Chicago is $17.05 per hour, about 13.7% higher than the Illinois minimum of $15 per hour. Both are above the federal minimum wage of $7.25. Chicago's $80,613 median household income sits about 17% below the $96,864 benchmark.

Taxes in Chicago, IL

Illinois has a flat 4.95% state income tax, so a $100,000 salary loses about $4,950 to state income tax before deductions, and Chicago has no local income tax on top. That can help a salary stretch further than in a high-tax state like California, which taxes income on a progressive scale. The trade-off is sales tax: the state rate is 6.25%, and local add-ons bring Chicago's combined rate to 10.5% as of 2026, which is among the highest in the country.

How Does Chicago, IL Compare to the Rest of Illinois

As of 2026, Chicago's cost of living is around 26.8% higher than the Illinois state average—a bigger gap than the 18.7% difference from the national average, showing how much pricier Chicago is relative to the rest of the state.

Cost of Living in Chicago, IL Changes Over Time

Chicago's cost of living has stayed roughly 18%-23% above the national average over the past five years, though the gap has narrowed from 23.3% in 2021 to 18.4% today. Housing remains one of the biggest cost drivers—with median rent growing by about 46% from 2021 to 2026, and home purchase prices rising about 14%—driven in part by strong demand and limited new construction. Everyday costs like groceries have also climbed with nationwide inflation.

Compare Chicago Cost of Living to Other Nearby Cities

How does Chicago compare to other cities nearby? Joliet's cost of living is 22.3% lower than Chicago’s, with the biggest gap in housing. See the full city-by-city comparisons below.

• Cost of Living in Joliet, IL—22.3% lower than Chicago

• Cost of Living in Kankakee, IL—25.7% lower than Chicago

• Cost of Living in Benton Harbor, MI—29.8% lower than Chicago

• Cost of Living in South Bend, IN—22.8% lower than Chicago

• Cost of Living Index—C2ER: Our cost of living calculator is powered by data from the Council for Community and Economic Research (C2ER), a trusted nonprofit organization that collects and compares prices across hundreds of U.S. cities. The C2ER Cost of Living Index measures everyday expenses like housing, groceries, transportation, utilities, healthcare, and other common goods and services, so you can see how costs stack up in different places. Each city's score is benchmarked against a national average of 100, which makes comparisons easy. For example, a score of 110 would indicate costs about 10% higher than the national average. We update our calculator twice a year to reflect the latest C2ER data. While these numbers represent citywide averages, it's important to keep in mind that your actual expenses may vary depending on your lifestyle and the neighborhood you choose. The category comparisons and dynamic figures throughout this page pull directly and automatically from this C2ER dataset via our CMS integration, so they stay current without manual updates each refresh cycle.

• Salary Benchmarks—Census/ACS and MIT Living Wage Calculator This page uses two distinct salary benchmarks, kept separate because they answer different questions. The "salary needed to live" figure is a cost-of-living-adjusted equivalence: U.S. median household income (Census/ACS) multiplied by the city's overall C2ER index, divided by 100—representing what a typical American household would need to earn locally to match the purchasing power they'd have nationally. The essentials-only figure referenced alongside it, and reused in the household-size breakdown, comes from MIT's Living Wage Calculator, using the after-tax, single-adult, no-children estimate as the baseline. The family-of-four figure in the household-size section uses MIT's "2 adults, both working, 2 children" scenario for consistency across cities. These figures are checked and refreshed manually as part of each city page's content update.

• Taxes—State and Local Tax Authority Sites: State income tax status, combined sales tax rate, and local income tax rate (where applicable) are researched and verified manually against each state's Department of Revenue or equivalent tax authority site as part of each city page's update.

• Cost of Living Over Time—Historical C2ER Data: Year-over-year cost-of-living trend figures are calculated in-house by comparing the city's current C2ER Cost of Living Index score against its own past C2ER reports, checked and calculated manually as part of each city page's content update.

• Population and Income Context—Census/ACS: Population figures, growth rates, and median household income come from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey, checked manually at each refresh.

• Neighborhood-Level Pricing—AreaVibes: Where a page identifies a specific cheaper neighborhood or suburb, median rent and home price comparisons are sourced from AreaVibes listing data, checked manually at each refresh. 

• Update Cadence: C2ER data refreshes automatically twice a year via our CMS integration. All other figures on this page—salary benchmarks, tax rates, CPI trends, Census data, and neighborhood pricing—are manually reviewed and updated as part of each city page's content refresh cycle.