Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington → Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
Relocation analysis based on 7 federal data sources
Should you move?
Moving from Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington to Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is unfavorable: BEA regional price parity goes from 104.8 to 103.6 (US = 100), and HUD 2-bedroom rent rises by $72/mo.
- -$3,498
- BLS median salary lower in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 259 to 277
- violent crimes per 100K (FBI UCR, state-level)
- 13.9:1 to 13.4:1
- NCES student-teacher ratio
- $535
- DOL infant care higher / yr in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
BEA Regional Price Parity, HUD Fair Market Rent, BLS OEWS, FBI UCR, NCES, and DOL. The table below lets you override the composite with your own priorities.
Cons of Moving
- - $72/mo more expensive rent (2BR)
- - $3K lower median salary
- - More environmental violations
Purchasing power stays near-even: BEA RPP moves only from 104.8 to 103.6 (ratio 0.99), inside a ±5% band. HUD 2BR Fair Market Rent rises $72/mo ($864/yr) from $1,709 in Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington to $1,781 in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin.
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington still leads on 5 of 7 federal dimensions, the origin keeps the edge. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin sits #329 of 387 metros on PlainRelocate livability (bottom third of the corpus). Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington is #332/387 on the same ranking. Composite verdict: Unfavorable. Override it with the dimension table below.
BLS OEWS median salary moves $3,498 lower ($80,598 → $77,100). Labor-market size: 1,928,660 tracked jobs at origin vs 4,480,500 at destination.
State retirement friendliness favors the destination: Illinois scores 58 (D, #31/51) vs Minnesota at 49 (F, #43/51). Full state tax and healthcare sub-scores sit in the retirement desk below.
State retirement friendliness
Primary-state scores from PlainRelocate's retirement registry (tax + healthcare + climate composite). Metro pairs use each metro's primary state abbreviation.
- Income tax
- 60
- Property tax
- 62
- Estate tax
- 50
- Healthcare
- 34
- Income tax
- 95
- Property tax
- 46
- Estate tax
- 50
- Healthcare
- 46
Full retirement ranking · Source composite documented on methodology (Tax Foundation + AARP tax guides + federal healthcare/climate inputs).
Salary Adjustment Calculator
Enter your current salary in Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington to see what you'd need to earn in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin to maintain the same purchasing power.
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin metro profile · Livability rankings · Methodology
Source: BEA Regional Price Parities, HUD Fair Market Rents, BLS OES, FBI UCR, NCES, DOL, EPA; retirement desk: Tax Foundation + AARP tax guides June 2026