City comparison
Barnstable Town, MA is about 900 miles (1,400 km) from Chicago, IL in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 1,100 miles, or about 19 hours behind the wheel at highway speeds.
Driving distance is a rough estimate (great-circle × 1.25); driving time assumes a 60 mph blended average. Real trips run 10–20% longer with stops.
A direct flight from Barnstable Town, MA to Chicago, IL takes about 1 h 47 min, covering roughly 900 miles in a straight line. Connecting itineraries with a layover typically add 1–3 hours.
Block-to-block estimate at ~500 mph cruise, including taxi, climb, and descent — what an airline would publish, not pure airborne time.
Barnstable Town, MA is on Eastern Time and Chicago, IL is on Central Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Barnstable Town, it's 11 a.m. in Chicago, which puts Barnstable Town 1 hours ahead.
Standard-time offsets. Daylight saving applies in both cities for most of the year (exceptions: Hawaii and most of Arizona), and the gap between the two stays the same.
Chicago has a population of 2,721,914, vs 48,922 in Barnstable Town — about 55.6× larger by population. By land area, Chicago covers about 230 sq mi vs 60 sq mi for Barnstable Town.
Population from US Census ACS. Land area from the Census Gazetteer (city proper, excluding inland water).
Cost indices by category, with the US city average (100) marked.
Index: 100 = US city average. Lower is more affordable.
Side-by-side costs, salaries, and sub-category indices.
| Metric | Barnstable Town | Chicago | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,711/mo | $1,314/mo | 30.2% higher in Barnstable Town |
| Median home value | $498,700 | $304,500 | 63.8% higher in Barnstable Town |
| Median household income | $94,387 | $71,673 | 31.7% higher in Barnstable Town |
| Groceries index | 97.4 | 106.4 | 9.2% higher in Chicago |
| Utilities index | 153.1 | 84.4 | 81.5% higher in Barnstable Town |
| Transportation index | 100.7 | 100.3 | ≈ equal (Barnstable Town slightly higher) |
| Healthcare index | 101.5 | 100.2 | 1.3% higher in Barnstable Town |
How much you'd need to earn in the other city to keep the same standard of living.
If you earn $100,000 in Barnstable Town, you'd need $102,330 in Chicago to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Barnstable Town, MA is about 2.3% cheaper overall than Chicago, IL, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 18% higher in Chicago than in Barnstable Town. If you earn $80,000 in Barnstable Town, you'd need about $81,864 in Chicago to keep the same standard of living.