City comparison
Chicago, IL is about 600 miles (950 km) from Gaithersburg, MD in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 750 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 Chicago, IL to Gaithersburg, MD takes about 1 h 10 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.
Chicago, IL is on Central Time and Gaithersburg, MD is on Eastern Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Chicago, it's 1 p.m. in Gaithersburg, which puts Chicago 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 69,016 in Gaithersburg — about 39.4× larger by population. By land area, Chicago covers about 230 sq mi vs 10 sq mi for Gaithersburg.
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 | Chicago | Gaithersburg | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,314/mo | $1,925/mo | 46.5% higher in Gaithersburg |
| Median home value | $304,500 | $472,800 | 55.3% higher in Gaithersburg |
| Median household income | $71,673 | $104,544 | 45.9% higher in Gaithersburg |
| Groceries index | 106.4 | 103.8 | 2.5% higher in Chicago |
| Utilities index | 84.4 | 106.4 | 26.1% higher in Gaithersburg |
| Transportation index | 100.3 | 102.0 | 1.7% higher in Gaithersburg |
| Healthcare index | 100.2 | 101.5 | 1.3% higher in Gaithersburg |
How much you'd need to earn in the other city to keep the same standard of living.
If you earn $100,000 in Chicago, you'd need $115,319 in Gaithersburg to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Chicago, IL is about 13.3% cheaper overall than Gaithersburg, MD, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 30% higher in Gaithersburg than in Chicago. If you earn $80,000 in Chicago, you'd need about $92,255 in Gaithersburg to keep the same standard of living.