San Diego Versus Chicago
It has been two years and half years since moving to Chicago and I think I’ve finally got enough experience to be able to compare my previous hometown of San Diego to my new one.
Climate
Chicago has four distinct seasons. San Diego seasons deviate very little from each other. Being born and raised in San Diego and only traveling during the summer, I’ve never seen trees lose their leaves or even change colors. The first time (while in Chicago) I saw snow I thought it was construction debris falling from a nearby skyscraper.
Winter
The winters in Chicago are ridiculous, especially in January and February. The wind blows hard enough to knock you down, the temperature can be below 0 degrees Fahrenheit for weeks at a time and wind chill can reach –29 degrees Fahrenheit.
However, the snow is beautiful when it is falling. Freshly fallen snow gives the entire city a magical glow to it. Going outside and walking around, when the snow falls never gets old. The temperature during snowfall is comparatively moderate and is never really colder than 20 degrees Fahrenheit. This is very comfortable when you are bundled up. Any colder than that and snow has a harder time condensing. Because of this phenomenon the coldest days in a Chicago winter are when the sky is clear and it is bright and sunny. A day after the snow has fallen is when it gets messy.
The city does a remarkable job at snow clearing through a combination of salting and plowing of the streets. As soon as any snow is forecast you will see dozens of city plow and salt trucks lining the major arteries of the city waiting to get to work. As soon as the first snow falls they begin clearing the streets immediately and progressively move down to the smaller and less frequented streets. As a result of the salting and various automobile traffic, within hours the snow on the streets turn into a black slushy mess.
Lake effect snow is a term I’ve never heard of until coming to Chicago.
“Lake-effect snow is produced in the winter when cold, Arctic winds move across long expanses of warmer lake water, providing energy and picking up water vapor which freezes and is deposited on the lee shores.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_effect_snow
Lake effect snow coming from Lake Michigan has occurred several times during each of the winters I’ve been here. Each time it dumps several feet of snow on the city and is generally really annoying.
Chicagoans are extremely resilient to the weather. Whatever the weather conditions, Chicago never slows down. People continue going about their business and traffic barely slows down even during blizzards. In contrast, San Diego, at the first sign of light drizzle there will be 200 accidents and traffic slows down to a crawl.
The weather during a San Diegan winter is amazing. The weather can hit the low 70s during the daytime, but drops dramatically through the evenings and mornings. The mild San Diegan winters are the reason I plan the majority of my trips back to visit friends and family during the winter to get a break from Chicago’s harsh weather.
Spring and Fall
As winter ends, weather becomes increasingly sporadic. The 70-degree day that seemingly ushers in the spring is often a cruel trick to soften you up for a blizzard a few days later. A spring day in Chicago is can be very unpredictable and a 12-hour period can have extreme weather changes. There may be days here where the weather starts out a balmy 70 degrees and by the end of the day it is 30 degrees. I never leave the house without first checking the weather. Something else that happens in Chicago that you can never witness in San Diego are buds forming on leafless trees that eventually sprout leaves that marks the spring.
The fall in Chicago is quite nice and September and October are most residents’ favorite months. During the fall in Chicago, all the trees turn beautiful shades of orange and lose their leaves.
Summer
In contrast to the winters, the summers in Chicago are amazing. The nights are warm so people are out late into the evenings. The numerous fireflies lighting up the night lend magic to the air. There is almost too much to do in Chicago in the summer. After being cooped up for so long Chicagoans make up for lost time during the summer. Every weekend the city of Chicago closes down portions of the city for annual street festivals, block parties and parades. On any given day, there could be up to eight separate events going on that are all difficult to choose from.
San Diego summers are cooler than Chicago’s. In San Diego the daytimes are warm, but temperatures continue to drop dramatically in the evenings. This means that you should dress in layers and bring a jacket for the evenings. In terms of special events in San Diego the only one I really miss is the Mecca of comic nerdom, the San Diego Comic Convention.
Speaking with another former San Diegan, he remarked that “the changing seasons in Chicago make the passing of time seem slower. When the seasons are all the same, the time goes by without you noticing as much.”
The People
Speaking in generalizations: San Diegans are known for their chill attitude and Chicagoans are a bit faster paced. Midwesterners are not shy and have a strange tendency to try to be helpful and talkative to strangers. First arriving in Chicago, it was weird having random people come up to you to start friendly conversations. Californians (myself included) like to keep to themselves and stay in their own world.
Females
The girls in Lakeview East are at least as good if not better than the quality you would find in San Diego’s Pacific Beach neighborhood. I’ll just leave it at that. There is also a gross population difference between the number of men to the number of women in Chicago. According to wikipedia there are only 91 males for every 100 females. This goes a long way in describing the “what is she doing with that guy” syndrome everywhere you look.
Transit
Since the city of Chicago is so dense, most of what you’d want is within easy walking distance. Just outside my door I’ve got hundreds of restaurants covering every ethnic background you can imagine. Every part of the city is easily accessible through the public transit system in Chicago. Around the clock trains and buses make getting around very convenient. There is a bus right outside my door that takes me directly to work that arrives every five minutes during peek hours. There is a train station one and half blocks away that gets me to the rest of the city. You can even track the locations of the buses through your mobile Internet device to see what the wait will be on the next bus. Since moving to Chicago I have sold my car and don’t miss it at all. Just the other day I was reflecting on how light my key chain is these days without my car keys (I now have a total of three keys). Taxis are always around. You just have to raise your hand up and one will arrive shortly (just like in the movies). Although a convenience, taxis are by far the worst and most reckless drivers on the road.
As most San Diegans, I drove exclusively there. The furthest I would ever walk is when I parked in front of a store and had to walk to go in.
Cuisine
My girlfriend and I eat out a lot and we’ve been trying new restaurants every chance that we get. We’ve experienced many different new foods that you have very little access to in San Diego, like Ethiopian, Peruvian, Thai, Indian, Mediterranean, Greek, Middle Eastern, French, and Scandinavian food. Chicago is a very ethnically segregated city. There are Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean, Indian, Polish, Greek, et cetera communities and you go into these areas to get the most authentic versions of their dishes. It is more difficult to find really good authentic Mexican food in Chicago, but it does exist, just not nearly in the quantity that it does in San Diego. Most Chicagoans cannot discern good Mexican from bad Mexican food. We’ve tried out numerous recommended places only to be disappointed. San Diego, being so close to the Mexican border is teeming with excellent Mexican food. Not surprisingly, in San Diego the Mexican food gets better the closer you are to the border, but you never want to cross the border unless you want to risk getting ill from Mexico’s more lax restrictions on food safety.
Almost every restaurant delivers in Chicago. This is really necessary during the winters. So you have an incredible number of choices when ordering in. One thing that I ran into that I never connected is how important restaurant delivery boundaries are. Do you remember in that episode of Seinfeld “The Pothole” where Elaine pretends to live in a janitor’s closet in a different apartment so that she can live inside the delivery zone of a Chinese restaurant? It is something I just could not relate to until I moved to Chicago.
I do miss Rubios, random taco shops and In-N-Out Burger that you can only get in San Diego.
Culture
Architecture, museums, Al Capone, the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, shows, musicals it’s really hard to match Chicago in this respect.
Ocean
No ocean and all that goes with it. While I am within walking distance of the beaches of Lake Michigan, it really does not compare to San Diego beaches. Lake Michigan may look like an ocean, but it does not have any waves and the water is generally too cold to enter. I miss body boarding and listening to the waves lap the shore and the beach communities in San Diego are laid back and nice.
Nightlife
Nightlife is really crazy in Chicago. Bars are open until 4AM and there are a few that never close. San Diego’s nightlife is more subdued and relaxed. Bars close at 2AM in San Diego.
Sports
Let’s face it; San Diego’s sports teams as well as fans leave a lot to be desired. Having never won a single title and being unable to keep a basketball team (the Clippers) reflects on this. Chicago doubles my chances of finally living in or even being associated with a city with a team that can win it all. Nonetheless I’m still a San Diego sports fan first and a Chicago fan second. I’m just glad Chicago and San Diego aren’t in the same division otherwise I could never support any of Chicago’s teams.
Cost of living
Monetarily I’m in a much better spot than I was in San Diego. Since I don’t own a car I do not pay for gas, insurance, or the maintenance of it. I just recently bought a Condo here and the real estate cost is about the same if not a little higher in the city than in desirable neighborhoods in San Diego. As you move further west in Chicago, out to the suburbs, housing is very comparable to San Diego’s.
Utilities are quite a bit less than San Diego. Chicago has plentiful electricity provided by nuclear power and tons of water. San Diego receives very little rain and relies on the Colorado River for water.
Sales tax is the worst in the country in Chicago at a staggering 10.25%. For this money we do get lots of clean streets (trash cans every 20 feet), new flowers planted throughout the city and maintained during spring, summer and fall (waste of money).
Conclusion
All in all the two cities are very different from each other. I think there is no better place than Chicago in the summer. Were it entirely up to me I would split my time between the two cities with winter and spring spent in San Diego and summer and fall spent in Chicago. Since I own a condo in each location, this may very well come true in the future. I miss my family and friends in San Diego and that plays a huge factor into the decision. Feel free to ask me questions about either city and I’ll do my best to answer them.
Tags: Chicago, Chicago versus San Diego, chicago vs. san diego, city comparison, Comparison, cost of living, demographics, limitlessunits, limitlessunits.com, nightlife, riposte101, San Diego, sports, tony huynh, transit, versus chicago, weather
This entry was posted on Saturday, October 18th, 2008 at 4:32 am and is filed under Chicago, San Diego. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
22 Responses to “San Diego Versus Chicago”
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Traitor. 8D
Chicago rocks, SD too…….sort of.
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I am from Chicago and must say I enjoyed this post. I am actually moving to SD next year. for now, I visit SD frequently. You forgot to mention traffic. SD has much less traffic than Chicago. As for mexican food…it is actually pretty good, next time you have to ask a mexican person for a recommendation because most non mexicans don’t know the difference between authentic and americanized. SD…..I miss those fish tacos!
Hey Tom,
The traffic is pretty bad in San Diego also. Since I don’t drive I do not notice the traffic as much in Chicago. I definitely miss fish tacos. Good luck in SD, it’s a cool town.
Thanks Tony,
I suggest that you keep taking public trans….it is really bad here. It’s already the 2nd most congested in the country, right after LA. I guess I wasn’t in SD long enough….I do remember it pretty horrible at Del Mar during the race season but it didn’t seem bad at all in comparing with my commutes here. Hmmm…..fish tacos.
ya tom, I live and work right in the middle of that area. you have the fair and then racing season…. its pretty brutal. im looking into moving next month to chicago… whats a good neghborhood- heard a lot about wicker and lincoln park…. im 26..
My boyfriend lives in San Diego County and I live in the Chicago Suburbs. Visiting me here was his first time in the Midwest. He is originally from Oregon but has lived in San Diego for the past 10 years. He plans on moving here with me soon. Do you think he will have a hard time adjusting???? I am just worried cause you can tell he’s not really from here. There are differences.
Thanks!
I would have to completely agree with the author of this comparison. I lived my whole life in Chicago, and just a couple years back have moved to San Diego. I love both cities for different aspects. I would agree in the statement that it would be totally perfect to live half the year here and half the year in Chicago.
This is a really great read. Thought the points you made about both cities are very fair. I guess I thought when reading this you were going to state which city you would recommend, but I guess you really dont need to make that decision since you have a home in both places. My girlfriend and I also live in Lakeview and are considering moving to San Diego. We’ve also heard great things about Colorado and Northern Arizona. I have lived in Chandler, AZ for a couple years and decided to move back because the lifestyle there got worn out pretty fast. The only thing I really miss is the sun and warm weather.
I love Chicago..it’s culture and food pretty much blew AZ away. However, the harsh winters and gloomy days have led us to consider moving out west. My girlfriend has never lived anywhere else and we are both ready for a change. We have made numerous trips to SD, but my concern is…will I have the same feelings about SD as I did about AZ after a few years of living there?
It seems you spend most of your time in Chicago so would you say that you enjoy the city of Chicago more (disregard the weather)? Another concern about SD is job market and cost of living. We’ve heard that SD is actually more expensive than Chicago and that the salaries there pay less for simliar positions than Chicago. Of course we would love to be able to afford a home in both locations, but that is not an option at this time. We are approaching our 30’s and are also looking for a place to settle down and start a family. We have not made any plans to move, but are in the process of researching whether or not this would be a good idea.
Any input would be much appreciated….
Thank you.
Hi Dave,
I’m actually living in Santa Monica now. I prefer it to San Diego because there is slightly more stuff to do here than in San Diego although at a slight increase in cost of living. Chicago still blows these two cities away in variety, culture and activities. I miss the food and all the choices available in a big and dense city like Chicago. I can definitively say that I enjoy Chicago as a city more, but the weather and proximity to my family are huge factors.
San Diego’s job market isn’t the best and you are right that the cost of living is a bit more than Chicago. I would recommend not moving until you find work or have a stable source of income as finding work now is pretty hard. Why not do your job search and compare the jobs and let that decide where you end up being?
If you are looking for a place to settle down and raise children, then San Diego is a great place to do that. They have a lot of good neighborhood choices with excellent public schools. I’m starting to think about starting a family also, so being close to my parents and having a support structure to me was incredibly important and that was a deciding factor in why I made the move.
Hi Tony –
I know this post is old but I found it in a google search and think it’s a great read. I’m currently in process of trying to decide if I should move to San Diego from Chicago. I was just offered a job there but having doubts with the decision. I’m originally from Chicago (living in Lakeview East), and I love the city atmosphere, culture, plus I have my family and friends here. I also do like the change of seasons…even though the winters I can do without. Public transportation is also a plus of living in Chicago. I don’t have a car here and know I would need one in SD…everyone drives!
I’ve been to San Diego several times and when visiting, I love it! But it’s such a change and I’m wondering if I would fit in and like the culture when living permentantly.
Anyway, thanks for reading and the post! Any advice would be great….
Hi Erin,
It is a big change and you need to weigh the decision carefully. I usually make lists of pros and cons before coming to a big decision like this. I will say that you never really know a city until you’ve lived there for a while. Let me know how it goes and good luck!
Hello,
I am currently an undergraduate student at the University of Illinois. Although I do not live in Chicago, I am really familiar with Chicago and love the city. Next year I will be attending graduate school and I am deciding between a program in Illinois that gives me the option to work in Chicago in the future or a program at San Diego State University in San Diego, CA. I do not know anyone in California but I think San Diego is beautiful and it would be an awesome experience. I obviously have my support system in Chicago. The programs are comparable so it is not like one is way better than the other. How hard do you think it is for a young person to move to San Diego for a masters program not knowing anyone? Do you think the transition could be easier because there will be other students in the same program? Any advice for a new comer in her early twenties looking to do a masters in San Diego? Also my parents will be supporting me so I don’t have to worry too much about income/living cost until I graduate my masters in Speech Language Pathology.
Hey Katie,
I know a lot of people that moved to San Diego. The transition shouldn’t be too bad there. You don’t really know a city unless you live there for a while. I think it would be a great experience to move to a new place and experience it. That way you’ll have the experience to compare the 2 like I have. Whatever you decide. Good luck!
Hey there! I know you published this years ago so not sure if you’ll even get this message, but if so I’d love to ask you some questions! I’m looking to move to San Diego in October but I was born and raised in Chicago so this is all I know, and would love some more insight. Any advice would help! Thanks, Janice
Hi Janice. I just stumbled onto this website today and saw your comment and thought maybe we could talk. You see, I have been in San Diego my whole life and am planning a move to Chicago this summer! E-mail me at lizardbreath789 at yahoo dot com. (Don’t judge, it’s an e-mail account from high school!) Hopefully you’ll get this and reach out. ~Liz~
Hi Janice,
Sorry I took so long to get back to you, but I’d be happy to answer any questions you might have about San Diego. You can write to me here or e-mail me at riposte101 @ gmail [dot] com .
Thanks!
Hi Tony-
Thanks for your information on the diferences of the 2 cities. I would love to get some more details from you as far as crime, best family neighborhoods, ect. We are moving to San Diego from Chicago next Spring. We currently live in the suburbs of Chicago, and miss the city life, but would prefer to stay in a calm area. We were looking at northern areas of SD like Del Mar & surrounding areas. How would you compare SD’s suburbs to Chicago’s? Glad you like it here, but the winters do suck!!! Thanks.
If you’re looking for quiet neighborhoods, I would recommend Carlsbad, which is just north of Del Mar. Scripps Ranch, Poway and San Marcos are nice suburbs of Northern San Diego also.
Hi Tony,
You may not get this. I am looking for jobs in SD, in the healthcare/sales/coordinator realm. do you have any contacts for that. I am born and raised chicago girl and want a lifestyle change. With chicago its eat and drink, fitness and non-drinking is not a true chicagoans passion (well in my circle). I want to run along beaches, surf, long board (yes at the riiiipe age of 31) and live a true happy healthier lifestyle. so, do you think SD is a good choice for a career in healthcare, fitness and year round comfort with weather. for a person like me?
what are the best most affordable areas in SD (city limits- on the west side of highway 5) I think its time for me to change the pace and get west, Chicago is a great place to visit for a few weeks in the summer…the taxes are outrageous and they keep hiking costs… just wanted to find out the best areas for a 31 year old swf should live. thank you in advance!
Hey, thanks for the blog. I have been living in San Diego for 8 years, California for 12 and I feel like this area has nothing to offer. The area is overpopulated with uneducated people, ghetto nightlife, and overpriced bad quality restaurants. I am looking to take a position with my company in Chicago as an escape. I REALLY need a REAL city life, but nervous about Chicago because outside of the city, the Midwest is shit. I live in downtown SD and thought that would be my “city,” but the people are backwards and closed-minded in SD, and way too laid back for me (I’m originally from the East Coast). So my question is, living in Chicago, did you feel isolated because outside of Chicago is crap unless you get on a plane and go somewhere? Thanks for letting me rant, but San Diego is not all it is cracked up to be….