City comparison
Buckeye, AZ is about 1,500 miles (2,400 km) from Chicago, IL in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 1,800 miles, or about 31 hours (about 3 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 Buckeye, AZ to Chicago, IL takes about 2 h 57 min, covering roughly 1,500 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.
Buckeye, AZ is on Mountain Time and Chicago, IL is on Central Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Buckeye, it's 1 p.m. in Chicago, which puts Buckeye 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 95,042 in Buckeye — about 28.6× larger by population. By land area, Buckeye covers about 395 sq mi vs 230 sq mi for Chicago.
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 | Buckeye | Chicago | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,597/mo | $1,314/mo | 21.5% higher in Buckeye |
| Median home value | $341,700 | $304,500 | 12.2% higher in Buckeye |
| Median household income | $94,188 | $71,673 | 31.4% higher in Buckeye |
| Groceries index | 95.8 | 106.4 | 11.0% higher in Chicago |
| Utilities index | 96.2 | 84.4 | 14.0% higher in Buckeye |
| Transportation index | 104.1 | 100.3 | 3.7% higher in Buckeye |
| Healthcare index | 104.0 | 100.2 | 3.8% higher in Buckeye |
How much you'd need to earn in the other city to keep the same standard of living.
If you earn $100,000 in Buckeye, you'd need $95,504 in Chicago to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Chicago, IL is about 4.5% cheaper overall than Buckeye, AZ, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 9% higher in Buckeye than in Chicago. If you earn $80,000 in Buckeye, you'd need about $76,403 in Chicago to keep the same standard of living.