City comparison
Centreville, VA is about 600 miles (950 km) from Chicago, IL in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 700 miles, or about 12 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 Centreville, VA to Chicago, IL takes about 1 h 9 min, covering roughly 600 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.
Centreville, VA is on Eastern Time and Chicago, IL is on Central Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Centreville, it's 11 a.m. in Chicago, which puts Centreville 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 72,680 in Centreville — about 37.5× larger by population. By land area, Chicago covers about 230 sq mi vs 12 sq mi for Centreville.
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 | Centreville | Chicago | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $2,107/mo | $1,314/mo | 60.4% higher in Centreville |
| Median home value | $530,100 | $304,500 | 74.1% higher in Centreville |
| Median household income | $136,679 | $71,673 | 90.7% higher in Centreville |
| Groceries index | 104.3 | 106.4 | 2.0% higher in Chicago |
| Utilities index | 105.6 | 84.4 | 25.2% higher in Centreville |
| Transportation index | 102.2 | 100.3 | 1.8% higher in Centreville |
| Healthcare index | 101.6 | 100.2 | 1.4% higher in Centreville |
How much you'd need to earn in the other city to keep the same standard of living.
If you earn $100,000 in Centreville, you'd need $84,235 in Chicago to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Chicago, IL is about 15.8% cheaper overall than Centreville, VA, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 37% higher in Centreville than in Chicago. If you earn $80,000 in Centreville, you'd need about $67,388 in Chicago to keep the same standard of living.