City comparison
Cheyenne, WY is about 900 miles (1,400 km) from Chicago, IL 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 Cheyenne, WY to Chicago, IL takes about 1 h 46 min, covering roughly 900 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.
Cheyenne, WY is on Mountain Time and Chicago, IL is on Central Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Cheyenne, it's 1 p.m. in Chicago, which puts Cheyenne 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 64,795 in Cheyenne — about 42.0× larger by population. By land area, Chicago covers about 230 sq mi vs 36 sq mi for Cheyenne.
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 | Cheyenne | Chicago | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $993/mo | $1,314/mo | 32.3% higher in Chicago |
| Median home value | $283,100 | $304,500 | 7.6% higher in Chicago |
| Median household income | $74,989 | $71,673 | 4.6% higher in Cheyenne |
| Groceries index | 96.2 | 106.4 | 10.6% higher in Chicago |
| Utilities index | 82.2 | 84.4 | 2.6% higher in Chicago |
| Transportation index | 100.8 | 100.3 | ≈ equal (Cheyenne slightly higher) |
| Healthcare index | 100.8 | 100.2 | 0.5% higher in Cheyenne |
How much you'd need to earn in the other city to keep the same standard of living.
If you earn $100,000 in Cheyenne, you'd need $112,051 in Chicago to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Cheyenne, WY is about 10.8% cheaper overall than Chicago, IL, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 25% higher in Chicago than in Cheyenne. If you earn $80,000 in Cheyenne, you'd need about $89,641 in Chicago to keep the same standard of living.