City comparison
Bremerton, WA is about 1,700 miles (2,800 km) from Chicago, IL in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 2,200 miles, or about 36 hours (about 4 days at 10 h/day) 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 Bremerton, WA to Chicago, IL takes about 3 h 30 min, covering roughly 1,700 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.
Bremerton, WA is on Pacific Time and Chicago, IL is on Central Time — a 2-hour difference. When it's noon in Bremerton, it's 2 p.m. in Chicago, which puts Bremerton 2 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.
Chicago has a population of 2,721,914, vs 43,983 in Bremerton — about 61.9× larger by population. By land area, Chicago covers about 230 sq mi vs 28 sq mi for Bremerton.
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 | Bremerton | Chicago | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,413/mo | $1,314/mo | 7.5% higher in Bremerton |
| Median home value | $369,700 | $304,500 | 21.4% higher in Bremerton |
| Median household income | $68,556 | $71,673 | 4.5% higher in Chicago |
| Groceries index | 104.9 | 106.4 | 1.4% higher in Chicago |
| Utilities index | 95.0 | 84.4 | 12.6% higher in Bremerton |
| Transportation index | 99.9 | 100.3 | ≈ equal (Chicago slightly higher) |
| Healthcare index | 99.9 | 100.2 | ≈ equal (Chicago slightly higher) |
How much you'd need to earn in the other city to keep the same standard of living.
If you earn $100,000 in Bremerton, you'd need $93,146 in Chicago to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Chicago, IL is about 6.9% cheaper overall than Bremerton, WA, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 15% higher in Bremerton than in Chicago. If you earn $80,000 in Bremerton, you'd need about $74,517 in Chicago to keep the same standard of living.