Quality of life comparison

compared to

If you lived in Germany instead of Illinois, you would:

Health

be 40.3% less likely to be obese

In Illinois, 34.6% of adults are obese as of 2022. In Germany, that number is 20.6% of people as of 2024.

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Economy

be 22.7% less likely to be unemployed

In Illinois, 4.8% of the labor force is unemployed as of 2025. In Germany, that number is 3.7% as of 2025.

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be 29.8% more likely to live below the poverty line

In Illinois, 11.4% live below the poverty line as of 2023. In Germany, however, that number is 14.8% as of 2021.

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make 14.4% less money

Illinois has a GDP per capita of $70,691 as of 2024, while in Germany, the GDP per capita is $60,496 as of 2025.

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Sources: World Bank (2021–2025), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (PLACES) (2022), World Health Organization (2024), Bureau of Labor Statistics (2025), US Census Bureau (American Community Survey) (2023), Bureau of Economic Analysis (2024). How we calculate this

Compare further: Illinois vs. Germany

Cost of Living Comparison · 7 categories - 2026 data
Germany is 13.4% cheaper than Illinois
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Size Comparison · See true size
Illinois is about 2.5 times smaller than Germany.
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Moving from Illinois to Germany · Cost, visas & climate
Compare cost of living, salary and climate.
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City Size Comparison · See true size
Compare the size of Chicago vs Berlin
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Germany: At a glance

Germany is a sovereign country in Europe, with a total land area of approximately 348,672 sq km. As Europe's largest economy and second most populous nation (after Russia), Germany is a key member of the continent's economic, political, and defense organizations. European power struggles immersed Germany in two devastating World Wars in the first half of the 20th century and left the country occupied by the victorious Allied powers of the US, UK, France, and the Soviet Union in 1945. With the advent of the Cold War, two German states were formed in 1949: the western Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and the eastern German Democratic Republic (GDR). The democratic FRG embedded itself in key Western economic and security organizations, the EC, which became the EU, and NATO, while the communist GDR was on the front line of the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact. The decline of the USSR and the end of the Cold War allowed for German unification in 1990. Since then, Germany has expended considerable funds to bring Eastern productivity and wages up to Western standards. In January 1999, Germany and 10 other EU countries introduced a common European exchange currency, the euro.
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How big is Germany compared to Illinois? See an in-depth size comparison.

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