Weather in Chicago in July

A good month. July is a solid month to be in Chicago. Highs average 25.1 °C, lows 19.8 °C, and rain falls on 12 days — nothing in the month is working against you.

July ranks 2 of 12 in Chicago. Only September scores clearly higher, and the difference is small enough to be settled by price rather than weather.

Rain on 12 days, 3 of them heavy. Enough to need a plan B, not enough to need a plan around it. Nothing specialised needed — this is the month you pack for the trip rather than for the weather.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: the day barely swings — 5.3 °C between the overnight low and the afternoon high. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest July day reached 34.7 °C and the coldest night fell to 12.2 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 54 mm — roughly 57% of the month's rain in one day.

July is statistically steady but not small: the year-to-year variation is modest in relative terms, yet the wettest July on record still delivered 171 mm against 46 mm in the driest. In a month this wet, even a tame spread is a lot of rain in absolute terms — the 95 mm average is a reasonable planning figure, not a promise.

Wind is light at 11.2 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity runs at 78%, high enough to notice on the warm days without dominating them.

How July sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 21.1 °C in June, 25.1 here, 25.1 in August. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much.

Daylight in July

July is at or near the longest days of Chicago's year: 15 hours of daylight, losing 0.7 hours across the month. Evenings are the real gain — dinner outdoors still happens in full light.

An inland climate

With no coast nearby, the year swings a fair way — 30.2 °C between the warmest afternoons and the coldest nights, wider than any coastal city at this latitude would manage.

How busy it gets

Peak season. Expect the highest prices of the year and to be booking well ahead.

Crowd levels are estimated from climate desirability and school-holiday calendars, not from visitor numbers.

July in Chicago versus nearby

If Chicago is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Milwaukee is close enough to be a coin toss — 2.9 °C warmer, the same number of rain days. Grand Rapids is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 1 day less rain.

So: July is effectively as good as it gets here — 4 points behind September, which is inside the margin where the weather stops being the deciding factor and price starts being it.

Every month in Chicago

See all twelve months in Chicago, or where else to go in July.