Chicago vs Medellin - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Chicago	Medellin
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2678	$906
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$6655	$2260
🏠 One person rent	$1596	$408
🏘️ Family rent	$2946	$761
🍽️ Food expenses	$700	$275
🚐 Transport expenses	$200	$133
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4876	$432
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	15 km	3 km
🎓 Higher education	100	66
😀 Quality of life	95	53
🏙️ Population	2.75M	2.53M

The cost of living in Chicago is 195% more expensive than in Medellin. Cities ranked 529th and 6005th ($2678 vs $906) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 483rd and 2nd in the United States and Colombia, respectively. Check the United States vs Colombia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.8 months in Chicago compared to 0.5 months in Medellin. Chicago ranked 3rd best city to live in the United States vs Medellin ranked 2nd in Colombia, while ranked 23rd and 6049th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Chicago vs Medellin infographic

Share this infographic!

Use the link below to embed the infographic from our site and automatically keep the data layer up to date.

If you prefer to download the image, please credit us as a source.

<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/chicago/medellin.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Chicago vs Medellin infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/chicago/medellin" target="_blank">Chicago vs Medellin - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Chicago vs Medellin

Prices for goods and services in Chicago and Medellin are partly crowdsourced by our visitors, just like yourself. Please consider telling us about your city.

	Chicago	Medellin
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$21.9	$6.13
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$90.6	$24.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$12	$7.21
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$7	$2.02
☕ Cappuccino	$5.4	$1.92
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.95	$1.03
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1841	$439
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1327	$312
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3729	$851
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2474	$618
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$104	$47.3
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$159	$73.5
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$62.1	$22.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.68%	14.16%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3391	$1715
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2689	$1447
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.48	$0.79
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$75.1	$41.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$16.1	$13.5
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.06	$1.01
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.94	$1.12
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$3.68	$1.3
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.61	$1.26
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.13	$2.33
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.5	$5.44
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.2	$5.8
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$18.3	$9.62
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.67	$2.49
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.84	$1
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.36	$1.54
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.43	$1.29
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.18	$1.19
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.71	$1.12
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.81	$0.64
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.85	$1.83
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$14.9	$11.2
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.04	$1.13
🚬 Cigarette pack	$15	$3.41
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$11.5	$4.41
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$6.02	$4.4
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.63	$1.85
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.76	$2.28
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$63	$29.3
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$14.8	$4.57
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$127	$31.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$29.8	$10.4
👖 Brand Jeans	$59	$64
👟 Brand Sneakers	$94.4	$99.4
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$2114	$292
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$24502	$5682

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Chicago

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 7 mi	Cicero	$2425
14 km or 8.8 mi	Berwyn	$2421
14 km or 8.9 mi	Oak Park	$2510
16 km or 10 mi	Elmwood Park	$2426
18 km or 11 mi	Maywood	$2444
18 km or 11 mi	Evanston	$2194
19 km or 12 mi	Skokie	$2256
19 km or 12 mi	Burbank	$2401
20 km or 12 mi	Melrose Park	$2418
21 km or 13 mi	Oak Lawn	$2384
22 km or 14 mi	Morton Grove	$2314
22 km or 14 mi	Niles	$2334
23 km or 14 mi	Park Ridge	$2389
23 km or 14 mi	Wilmette	$2264
25 km or 16 mi	Blue Island	$2377
26 km or 16 mi	Elmhurst	$2392
27 km or 17 mi	Glenview	$2363
28 km or 17 mi	Des Plaines	$2509
28 km or 18 mi	Dolton	$2359
29 km or 18 mi	Villa Park	$2393
30 km or 19 mi	Harvey	$2360
30 km or 19 mi	East Chicago	$1938
30 km or 19 mi	Westmont	$2362
31 km or 19 mi	Calumet	$2363
31 km or 20 mi	South Holland	$2344
32 km or 20 mi	Lombard	$2396
32 km or 20 mi	Hammond	$1948
32 km or 20 mi	Oak Forest	$2350
33 km or 20 mi	Northbrook	$2378
33 km or 20 mi	Mount Prospect	$2446
33 km or 20 mi	Darien	$2369
33 km or 21 mi	Elk Grove Village	$2506
34 km or 21 mi	Downers Grove	$2342
35 km or 22 mi	Orland Park	$2367
36 km or 22 mi	Lansing	$2342
36 km or 22 mi	Glen Ellyn	$2227
37 km or 23 mi	Highland Park	$2345
37 km or 23 mi	Munster	$1954
37 km or 23 mi	Tinley Park	$2351
37 km or 23 mi	Wheeling	$2371

Cities near Medellin

Distance	City	Cost of living
8.1 km or 5 mi	Envigado	$897
9.9 km or 6.1 mi	Bello	$839
131 km or 82 mi	Manizales	$653
135 km or 84 mi	Quibdo	$705
160 km or 99 mi	Pereira	$680
171 km or 106 mi	Cartago	$649
179 km or 111 mi	Salento	$605
190 km or 118 mi	Armenia	$598
205 km or 127 mi	Ibague	$529
209 km or 130 mi	Facatativa	$674
212 km or 131 mi	Barrancabermeja	$1031
221 km or 137 mi	Zipaquira	$709
232 km or 144 mi	Girardot	$493
239 km or 148 mi	Soacha	$794
242 km or 150 mi	Turbo	$664
246 km or 153 mi	Bogota	$887
250 km or 155 mi	Tulua	$513
257 km or 160 mi	Tunja	$563
282 km or 175 mi	Monteria	$645
285 km or 177 mi	Duitama	$882
288 km or 179 mi	Bucaramanga	$657
289 km or 179 mi	Floridablanca	$648
298 km or 185 mi	Sogamoso	$534
308 km or 192 mi	Buenaventura	$742
312 km or 194 mi	Palmira	$666
318 km or 198 mi	Villavicencio	$497
329 km or 204 mi	Cali	$748
331 km or 206 mi	Ocana	$650
334 km or 208 mi	Santa Cruz de Lorica	$669
340 km or 211 mi	Sincelejo	$524
346 km or 215 mi	Magangue	$604
367 km or 228 mi	Yopal	$722
370 km or 230 mi	Neiva	$557
386 km or 240 mi	Cucuta	$562
387 km or 241 mi	San Antonio del Tachira	$601
391 km or 243 mi	Rubio	$599
406 km or 252 mi	San Cristobal	$592
410 km or 255 mi	Tariba	$598
438 km or 272 mi	Popayan	$477
448 km or 279 mi	La Grita	$618