City comparison
Broomfield, CO is about 900 miles (1,500 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 Broomfield, CO to Chicago, IL takes about 1 h 50 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.
Broomfield, CO is on Mountain Time and Chicago, IL is on Central Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Broomfield, it's 1 p.m. in Chicago, which puts Broomfield 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.
Chicago has a population of 2,721,914, vs 73,946 in Broomfield — about 36.8× larger by population. By land area, Chicago covers about 230 sq mi vs 33 sq mi for Broomfield.
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 | Broomfield | Chicago | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,923/mo | $1,314/mo | 46.3% higher in Broomfield |
| Median home value | $581,600 | $304,500 | 91.0% higher in Broomfield |
| Median household income | $117,541 | $71,673 | 64.0% higher in Broomfield |
| Groceries index | 100.2 | 106.4 | 6.1% higher in Chicago |
| Utilities index | 90.1 | 84.4 | 6.8% higher in Broomfield |
| Transportation index | 100.0 | 100.3 | ≈ equal (Chicago slightly higher) |
| Healthcare index | 100.0 | 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 Broomfield, you'd need $87,041 in Chicago to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Chicago, IL is about 13% cheaper overall than Broomfield, CO, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 34% higher in Broomfield than in Chicago. If you earn $80,000 in Broomfield, you'd need about $69,633 in Chicago to keep the same standard of living.