Cost of living comparison
compared to
Chicago vs. Spain Cost of Living Summary
Chicago is 68.2% more expensive than Spain overall.
Chicago vs. Spain Cost Breakdown
If you lived in Chicago instead of Spain, you would:
pay 24.8% more for restaurants
|
Spain
|
Chicago
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant |
$16.08
€14.31
|
$21.25
|
|
|
Fast food combo meal
McDonalds, or similar
|
$10.79
€9.61
|
$13.00
|
|
| Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz) |
$2.54
€2.26
|
$2.66
|
|
| Bottle of water (11 fl. oz) |
$1.76
€1.57
|
$2.30
|
|
Spain vs. Chicago - Cost of restaurants
pay 52.3% more for groceries
|
Spain
|
Chicago
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Bread
1 loaf
|
$1.49
€1.33
|
$3.92
|
|
| Local cheese (8 oz) |
$7.20
€6.40
|
$7.07
|
|
| Milk (1 gallon) |
$4.49
€4.00
|
$4.97
|
|
|
Eggs
1 dozen
|
$3.29
€2.93
|
$4.78
|
|
| Boneless chicken breast (1 lb) |
$3.74
€3.33
|
$6.65
|
|
| Apples (1 lb) |
$1.16
€1.03
|
$2.39
|
|
| Bananas (1 lb) |
$0.93
€0.83
|
$0.89
|
|
| Oranges (1 lb) |
$0.96
€0.85
|
$1.87
|
|
| Tomatoes (1 lb) |
$1.24
€1.10
|
$2.21
|
|
| Potatoes (1 lb) |
$0.84
€0.75
|
$1.24
|
|
| Onions (1 lb) |
$0.89
€0.79
|
$1.23
|
|
Spain vs. Chicago - Cost of groceries
pay 10.7% more for transportation
|
Spain
|
Chicago
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Gasoline (1 gallon) |
$6.62
€5.89
|
$4.66
|
|
| Monthly public transit pass |
$31.07
€27.66
|
$75.00
|
|
| New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition) |
$34,519.36
€30,723.47
|
$36,531.00
|
|
| Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles) |
$16.43
€14.62
|
$14.45
|
|
Spain vs. Chicago - Cost of transportation
pay 2.2 times more for housing
|
Spain
|
Chicago
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Internet connection
50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl
|
$29.92
€26.63
|
$61.13
|
|
| 1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area |
$925.54
€823.76
|
$2,400.00
|
|
| 1-Bedroom apartment outside city center |
$728.71
€648.57
|
$1,679.31
|
|
|
Utilities for two
(700 sq ft apartment)
including electric, gas, water, heating
|
$109.11
€97.11
|
$147.87
|
|
Spain vs. Chicago - Cost of housing
pay 3.3 times more for childcare
|
Spain
|
Chicago
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Private preschool for 1 child, monthly |
$480.60
€427.75
|
$1,536.88
|
|
| Middle school for 1 child, two semesters |
$9,049.60
€8,054.47
|
$31,537.78
|
|
Spain vs. Chicago - Cost of childcare
pay 86.3% more for entertainment and sports
|
Spain
|
Chicago
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Domestic/local beer (1 pint) |
$3.31
€2.94
|
$7.00
|
|
| Cappuccino in mid-range area |
$2.30
€2.04
|
$5.70
|
|
|
Pack of cigarettes
Marlboro or similar
|
$6.23
€5.54
|
$16.00
|
|
| Monthly membership at local gym |
$47.01
€41.84
|
$53.47
|
|
| Movie ticket to theater/cinema |
$9.34
€8.32
|
$18.00
|
|
Spain vs. Chicago - Cost of entertainment and sports
pay 14.9% more for clothing
|
Spain
|
Chicago
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Regular jeans
Levi's brand
|
$80.62
€71.76
|
$66.94
|
|
|
Regular dress
from H&M or similar store
|
$36.25
€32.27
|
$51.67
|
|
|
Running shoes
Nike or Adidas
|
$90.09
€80.18
|
$99.58
|
|
| Men's business shoes (leather) |
$108.00
€96.12
|
$143.78
|
|
Spain vs. Chicago - Cost of clothing
We average the price of thousands of data points entered by users across the world. Sources: MyLifeElsewhere's cost-of-living dataset (prices updated October 2026). How we calculate this
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Compare further: Spain vs. Chicago
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cost of living in Spain vs. United States.
This provides a comparison of the average cost of living from cities within Spain and United States.
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