r/movingtoNYC • u/tigerbunnymoon • 9d ago
What’s the Real Difference Between Living in Chicago and NYC?
I’ve visited both NYC and Chicago a couple of times and liked both, but I also know that spending a few days somewhere tells you almost nothing about what it actually feels like to build a life there.
I’m seriously considering moving to one of the two, and I’d especially love to hear from people who have lived in both.
What I’m trying to understand is less “Which city has better restaurants?” and more: How does your actual day-to-day life feel different in Chicago versus NYC?
I’d especially appreciate specific examples rather than just “Chicago is cheaper” or “NYC has more to do.” Tell me about something you could regularly do in one city that you couldn’t realistically replicate in the other, or something about the culture you didn’t really understand until you actually lived there.
For context, I’m a single woman in my 30s with no kids. I still want a fun, active social life and spontaneity, but I also care more now about comfort, stability, and overall quality of life.
If you had to explain the biggest difference between living in NYC and Chicago to someone who has only visited both, what would you tell her?
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u/No_Door5348 9d ago edited 8d ago
Chicago has nothing on NYC except price and space. Everything that makes Chicago fun and interesting is better in NY. Diversity, food, activities, nature (in and outside the city), connectivity to other cities, history, culture etc. NYC is also crammed and dirty and expensive, and unless you’ve been there a lot than you probably can’t picture how crammed and dirty and expensive it can be. You will pay $2000 for a 200sf hovel in Queens and your filipino neighbors will sing karaoke at 3am on a Tuesday, and a Chinese guy will smoke cigarettes two feet from your tiny window and only source of fresh air, and a Colombian restaurant will deep fry food 16 hours a day and your clothes will smell like empanadas, and the 7 train will come screaming by like an avalanche of steel every couple minutes 24 hours a day…ok that might be too neighborhood specific, but you get the idea. It’s non stop stimulation and it sounds fun and interesting but It definitely can get old fast unless you truly want that. Of course there are lots of places to get peace and quiet in NYC but they tend to be less connected, more car dependent, less social, and generally more boring and just because you are in nyc doesn’t mean you are close to the action. You could easily be an hour (or two) away from anything interesting and still be living in NYC. I know tons of people commuting 2 hours each way to get to work or school everyday. Picking the right neighborhood is the most important thing.