Cost of living comparison

compared to

Chicago vs. Thessaloniki Cost of Living Summary

Chicago is 79.2% more expensive than Thessaloniki.

Restaurants
pay 30.1% more in Chicago
Groceries
pay 44.4% more in Chicago
Transportation
pay 25.5% more in Chicago
Housing
pay 2.8 times more in Chicago
Childcare
pay 3.4 times more in Chicago
Entertainment and Sports
pay 42.9% more in Chicago
Clothing
pay 8.4% less in Chicago

The cost of childcare, housing, groceries, entertainment and sports, restaurants, and transportation in Chicago are more expensive than in Thessaloniki. Notably, childcare and housing are significantly more expensive in Chicago.

Chicago vs. Thessaloniki Cost Breakdown

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

pay 30.1% more for restaurants

 
Thessaloniki
Chicago
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant $16.80
€15.00
$21.25
 
Fast food combo meal
McDonalds, or similar
$11.20
€10.00
$13.00
 
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz) $2.94
€2.63
$2.66
 

Improve prices ·

pay 44.4% more for groceries

 
Thessaloniki
Chicago
Bread
1 loaf
$1.74
€1.56
$3.92
 
Local cheese (8 oz) $7.09
€6.33
$7.07
 
Milk (1 gallon) $6.57
€5.87
$4.97
 

Improve prices ·

pay 25.5% more for transportation

 
Thessaloniki
Chicago
Gasoline (1 gallon) $8.75
€7.81
$4.66
 
Monthly public transit pass $17.92
€16.00
$75.00
 
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition) $27,970.99
€24,975.22
$36,531.00
 

Improve prices ·

pay 2.8 times more for housing

 
Thessaloniki
Chicago
Internet connection
50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl
$30.47
€27.21
$61.13
 
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area $627.05
€559.89
$2,400.00
 
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center $492.02
€439.33
$1,679.31
 

Improve prices ·

pay 3.4 times more for childcare

 
Thessaloniki
Chicago
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly $476.59
€425.54
$1,536.88
 
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters $9,030.67
€8,063.46
$31,537.78
 

Improve prices ·

pay 42.9% more for entertainment and sports

 
Thessaloniki
Chicago
Domestic/local beer (1 pint) $5.60
€5.00
$7.00
 
Cappuccino in mid-range area $4.21
€3.76
$5.70
 
Pack of cigarettes
Marlboro or similar
$5.60
€5.00
$16.00
 

Improve prices ·

pay 8.4% less for clothing

 
Thessaloniki
Chicago
Regular jeans
Levi's brand
$96.78
€86.41
$66.94
 
Regular dress
from H&M or similar store
$45.46
€40.59
$51.67
 
Running shoes
Nike or Adidas
$121.17
€108.19
$99.58
 

Improve prices ·

We average the price of thousands of data points entered by users across the world. Sources: MyLifeElsewhere's cost-of-living dataset (prices updated November 2026). How we calculate this

Share this

Compare countries by overall cost of living

See the cost of living in Greece vs. United States. This provides a comparison of the average cost of living from cities within Greece and United States.

Help us improve these prices

MyLifeElsewhere is a collaborative project. Please enter price information for your location to help assist us in making these comparisons more accurate. Learn more

Ask the Elsewhere Community

Join the Elsewhere community and ask a question about Chicago or Thessaloniki. It's a free, question-and-answer based forum to discuss what life is like in countries and cities around the world.