City comparison
Brentwood, NY is about 750 miles (1,200 km) from Chicago, IL in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 950 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 Brentwood, NY to Chicago, IL takes about 1 h 30 min, covering roughly 750 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.
Brentwood, NY is on Eastern Time and Chicago, IL is on Central Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Brentwood, it's 11 a.m. in Chicago, which puts Brentwood 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 65,042 in Brentwood — about 41.8× larger by population. By land area, Chicago covers about 230 sq mi vs 11 sq mi for Brentwood.
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 | Brentwood | Chicago | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,660/mo | $1,314/mo | 26.3% higher in Brentwood |
| Median home value | $416,000 | $304,500 | 36.6% higher in Brentwood |
| Median household income | $111,572 | $71,673 | 55.7% higher in Brentwood |
| Groceries index | 109.4 | 106.4 | 2.9% higher in Brentwood |
| Utilities index | 124.5 | 84.4 | 47.6% higher in Brentwood |
| Transportation index | 105.0 | 100.3 | 4.6% higher in Brentwood |
| Healthcare index | 105.7 | 100.2 | 5.5% higher in Brentwood |
How much you'd need to earn in the other city to keep the same standard of living.
If you earn $100,000 in Brentwood, you'd need $83,388 in Chicago to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Chicago, IL is about 16.6% cheaper overall than Brentwood, NY, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 32% higher in Brentwood than in Chicago. If you earn $80,000 in Brentwood, you'd need about $66,710 in Chicago to keep the same standard of living.