City comparison
Cedar Rapids, IA is about 850 miles (1,400 km) from Philadelphia, PA in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 1,100 miles, or about 18 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 Cedar Rapids, IA to Philadelphia, PA takes about 1 h 45 min, covering roughly 850 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.
Cedar Rapids, IA is on Central Time and Philadelphia, PA is on Eastern Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Cedar Rapids, it's 1 p.m. in Philadelphia, which puts Cedar Rapids 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.
Philadelphia has a population of 1,593,208, vs 136,929 in Cedar Rapids — about 11.6× larger by population. By land area, Philadelphia covers about 135 sq mi vs 75 sq mi for Cedar Rapids.
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 | Cedar Rapids | Philadelphia | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $886/mo | $1,250/mo | 41.1% higher in Philadelphia |
| Median home value | $167,900 | $215,500 | 28.4% higher in Philadelphia |
| Median household income | $66,895 | $57,537 | 16.3% higher in Cedar Rapids |
| Groceries index | 94.0 | 97.0 | 3.3% higher in Philadelphia |
| Utilities index | 84.7 | 112.3 | 32.7% higher in Philadelphia |
| Transportation index | 93.3 | 101.7 | 9.0% higher in Philadelphia |
| Healthcare index | 93.5 | 102.7 | 9.8% higher in Philadelphia |
How much you'd need to earn in the other city to keep the same standard of living.
If you earn $100,000 in Cedar Rapids, you'd need $127,502 in Philadelphia to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Cedar Rapids, IA is about 21.6% cheaper overall than Philadelphia, PA, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 57% higher in Philadelphia than in Cedar Rapids. If you earn $80,000 in Cedar Rapids, you'd need about $102,001 in Philadelphia to keep the same standard of living.