Chicago in September

If you can pick any month for a first trip to Chicago, pick September. The humidity breaks, the lake is still warm enough to wade into, the patios are full, and the families who packed the Riverwalk all summer have gone home for the school year. You get summer weather with fewer people in it, at least after Labor Day.

This page covers the planning side, from weather to hotel rates. For festivals and day-by-day ideas, go to things to do in Chicago in September.

September weather

The National Weather Service's official 1991-2020 normals, measured at O'Hare, give September an average high of 75.5°F and a low of 57.1°F, with about 3.2 inches of rain. That's a big drop from August's 82.5°F high, and you'll feel it happen over the month. The first week can still be sticky and hot. By the last week, you'll want a jacket after dark.

The days get shorter fast, too. Sunset moves from about 7:25pm at the start of the month to about 6:35pm at the end, so a late-September architecture cruise at 6pm is a different trip from one on Labor Day. Down by the lake it's usually a few degrees cooler than at O'Hare, which is pleasant on a warm afternoon and less so at 9pm on the end of Navy Pier. Check the NWS Chicago forecast the week you travel, and see our Chicago weather page for the rest of the year.

Crowds and hotel prices

Labor Day weekend is the last big summer weekend, and it's busy. The free Chicago Jazz Festival fills Millennium Park, and downtown hotels price the weekend like July. Our Labor Day weekend page has more.

After that, the tourists thin out, but don't expect bargain rates. Convention season is back in full swing, and business travelers fill Loop and River North hotels Monday to Thursday. A big show at McCormick Place can push rates up across downtown for a whole week, so check the McCormick Place event calendar before you book. Weekends can be the better deal. The exceptions are weekends with a big ticketed festival, like Riot Fest in Douglass Park or Chicago Gourmet in Millennium Park, and those mostly move prices near the venue. For exact dates in a given year, the city keeps a festival dates page.

For picking a neighborhood, see where to stay in Chicago, hotels in the Loop and hotels in River North. Restaurants get easier after Labor Day, and you can usually book a river cruise a day or two out instead of a week.

What to pack

Pack for two seasons. Shorts and T-shirts for the warm afternoons, jeans or long pants for the evenings, and a light sweater or jacket you can carry around all day. Sandals are fine early in the month. Later on, most people switch to sneakers or boots. Add a small umbrella that won't flip inside out on the Michigan Avenue bridge, and bring comfortable shoes, because September is walking weather and you'll use it. Our what to wear in Chicago in fall page goes into more detail.

What to do

September is the month for doing things outside. The lifeguards leave the beaches after Labor Day and the Park District prohibits swimming after that, but the sand and the Lakefront Trail are quieter and still warm. The farmers markets are at their best, with the first apples, and the Cubs' regular season runs to the end of the month at Wrigley Field. Beyond the Jazz Festival, the month brings Mexican Independence Day parades in Pilsen and Little Village, Oktoberfest in Lincoln Square and the free World Music Festival. Open House Chicago isn't until October.

>> things to do in Chicago in September
>> things to do in Chicago in fall
>> Chicago in August and Chicago in October
>> holidays and events in Chicago