City comparison
Birmingham, AL is about 800 miles (1,300 km) from Philadelphia, PA in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 1,000 miles, or about 16 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 Birmingham, AL to Philadelphia, PA takes about 1 h 34 min, covering roughly 800 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.
Birmingham, AL is on Central Time and Philadelphia, PA is on Eastern Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Birmingham, it's 1 p.m. in Philadelphia, which puts Birmingham 1 hours behind.
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.
Philadelphia has a population of 1,593,208, vs 200,431 in Birmingham — about 7.9× larger by population. By land area, Birmingham covers about 145 sq mi vs 135 sq mi for Philadelphia.
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 | Birmingham | Philadelphia | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $995/mo | $1,250/mo | 25.6% higher in Philadelphia |
| Median home value | $123,000 | $215,500 | 75.2% higher in Philadelphia |
| Median household income | $42,464 | $57,537 | 35.5% higher in Philadelphia |
| Groceries index | 96.6 | 97.0 | ≈ equal (Philadelphia slightly higher) |
| Utilities index | 84.8 | 112.3 | 32.5% higher in Philadelphia |
| Transportation index | 97.0 | 101.7 | 4.8% higher in Philadelphia |
| Healthcare index | 96.5 | 102.7 | 6.4% higher in Philadelphia |
How much you'd need to earn in the other city to keep the same standard of living.
If you earn $100,000 in Birmingham, you'd need $124,412 in Philadelphia to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Birmingham, AL is about 19.6% cheaper overall than Philadelphia, PA, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 54% higher in Philadelphia than in Birmingham. If you earn $80,000 in Birmingham, you'd need about $99,529 in Philadelphia to keep the same standard of living.