Living in Chicago, IL

Cook County

Chicago is Illinois's dominant anchor and the nation's 3rd-largest city, and its real, current story genuinely splits into strengths and negatives this record states plainly rather than resolving into a one-sided narrative. On population, Chicago proper posted a real, genuine third consecutive year of growth (up to 2,731,585 residents, approximately 99% of its own 2020 Census count) even as Cook County as a whole has lost population since 2020 and the broader metro area lost more than 35,000 residents to domestic outmigration in 2025 alone -- a real, two-sided migration story, with international immigration doing real, disclosed work offsetting real domestic outmigration, consistent with the pattern documented across this project's broader Illinois coverage. Chicago's real economic weight is genuine and substantial: O'Hare International Airport is the world's busiest airport by aircraft operations (860,015 in 2025) and 6th-busiest globally by passenger volume; approximately 13 Fortune 500 companies (including McDonald's and United Airlines Holdings) are headquartered in the city proper; and nationally-ranked healthcare systems (Northwestern Memorial, ranked #11 nationally; Rush University Medical Center, top-5 nationally in two specialties; University of Chicago Medicine) give the city genuinely deep medical access. Illinois's flat 4.95% state income tax carries no local add-on and, distinctively, does NOT tax retirement income at all -- a real, substantial relocation positive for retirees. Set against these strengths, Chicago carries real, disclosed negatives this record does not soften: a genuinely high combined sales tax (~10.25%), a real, disclosed property tax burden (Chicago proper's own rate ran ~1.66%, among the lowest in Cook County, while the county overall ran ~1.91% and some suburbs ran 2.5%-3.5%+), a real and escalating severe-weather risk profile (Illinois recorded 200+ confirmed tornadoes in 2026, a new state record, and an August 2026 derecho tore through Chicago's own south suburbs), a genuinely strained CITY-level fiscal picture (a $36.4 billion pension debt and a 2025 S&P credit-outlook downgrade to negative, distinct from the state's own more positive fiscal trajectory), and a crime picture that is itself genuinely two-sided -- a still-elevated 2024 baseline alongside a real, historic 2025 homicide decline to the city's lowest total since 1965. Chicago's real, distinct North Side/South Side/Loop identity and dozens of genuinely different neighborhoods mean no single citywide figure tells the whole story for any of these topics -- readers should research a specific target neighborhood directly.

Explore Chicago in depth

• Moving to Chicago: Pros, Cons & What to Know
• Cost of Living in Chicago
• Housing Market in Chicago
• Buying a Home in Chicago
• Renting in Chicago
• Property Taxes in Chicago
• Taxes in Chicago
• Homeowners Insurance in Chicago
• Flood & Hurricane Risk in Chicago
• Climate & Weather in Chicago
• Jobs & Economy in Chicago
• Schools in Chicago
• Crime & Safety in Chicago
• Healthcare in Chicago
• Traffic & Transportation in Chicago
• Best Areas to Live in Chicago
• Pros and Cons of Living in Chicago
• Who Should / Shouldn’t Move to Chicago
• Who Should NOT Move to Chicago?
• Retiring in Chicago
• Living in Chicago for Families
• Living in Chicago for Remote Workers
• Is Chicago a Good Place to Live?

Housing

Taxes

The tradeoffs

Who this fits

Best for: Best fits movers who specifically want genuine big-city urban living with real, substantial rail transit, deep healthcare and higher-education access, and a major global economic and travel hub, and who take Chicago's real, disclosed tax structure, property tax, severe-weather, and city-fiscal-health considerations seriously -- researching a specific target neighborhood directly given the real, wide variation across the Loop, North Side neighborhoods like Lincoln Park and Wicker Park, and South Side neighborhoods like Hyde Park and Beverly. Illinois's retirement-income tax exemption is a real, substantial draw for retirees specifically, alongside the city's genuinely deep healthcare systems.

Maybe not for you if: Probably not the right fit for anyone for whom a low combined sales tax or a low property tax bill is a hard requirement, given Chicago's real, disclosed ~10.25% combined sales tax and its genuinely high property tax burden (which runs from ~1.66% in Chicago proper up to 2.5%-3.5%+ in several Cook County suburbs); anyone specifically averse to real, escalating severe-weather risk (Illinois's 2026 record tornado season and the August 2026 derecho through Chicago's own south suburbs); anyone for whom a citywide crime rate at or below the national average is a hard requirement, given the still-elevated 2024 baseline disclosed alongside the real 2025 improvement; and anyone who assumes Illinois's or Chicago's fiscal picture is fully resolved, given the city's own real, disclosed $36.4 billion pension debt and 2025 credit-outlook downgrade.