City comparison
Canton, OH is about 175 miles (275 km) from Dayton, OH in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 200 miles, or about 3 h 30 min 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 Dayton, OH takes about 20 min, covering roughly 175 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 Dayton, OH is on Central Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Canton, it's 11 a.m. in Dayton, 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.
Dayton has a population of 137,305, vs 70,589 in Canton — about 1.9× larger by population. By land area, Dayton covers about 56 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 | Dayton | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $793/mo | $830/mo | 4.7% higher in Dayton |
| Median home value | $86,200 | $86,200 | ≈ equal |
| Median household income | $37,627 | $41,443 | 10.1% higher in Dayton |
| Groceries index | 93.9 | 93.9 | ≈ equal |
| Utilities index | 96.5 | 95.1 | 1.5% higher in Canton |
| Transportation index | 98.8 | 98.8 | ≈ equal |
| Healthcare index | 99.0 | 99.0 | ≈ equal |
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 $106,923 in Dayton to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Canton, OH is about 6.5% cheaper overall than Dayton, OH, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 23% higher in Dayton than in Canton. If you earn $80,000 in Canton, you'd need about $85,539 in Dayton to keep the same standard of living.