City comparison
Canton, OH is about 325 miles (550 km) from Chicago, IL in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 425 miles, or about 7 h 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 Canton, OH to Chicago, IL takes about 40 min, covering roughly 325 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.
Canton, OH is on Eastern Time and Chicago, IL is on Central Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Canton, it's 11 a.m. in Chicago, which puts Canton 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 70,589 in Canton — about 38.6× larger by population. By land area, Chicago covers about 230 sq mi vs 27 sq mi for Canton.
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 | Canton | Chicago | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $793/mo | $1,314/mo | 65.7% higher in Chicago |
| Median home value | $86,200 | $304,500 | 253.2% higher in Chicago |
| Median household income | $37,627 | $71,673 | 90.5% higher in Chicago |
| Groceries index | 93.9 | 106.4 | 13.3% higher in Chicago |
| Utilities index | 96.5 | 84.4 | 14.4% higher in Canton |
| Transportation index | 98.8 | 100.3 | 1.6% higher in Chicago |
| Healthcare index | 99.0 | 100.2 | 1.3% higher in Chicago |
How much you'd need to earn in the other city to keep the same standard of living.
If you earn $100,000 in Canton, you'd need $129,440 in Chicago to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Canton, OH is about 22.7% cheaper overall than Chicago, IL, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 90% higher in Chicago than in Canton. If you earn $80,000 in Canton, you'd need about $103,552 in Chicago to keep the same standard of living.