City comparison
Chicago, IL is about 700 miles (1,100 km) from Hackensack, NJ in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 900 miles, or about 15 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 Hackensack, NJ takes about 1 h 25 min, covering roughly 700 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 Hackensack, NJ is on Eastern Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Chicago, it's 1 p.m. in Hackensack, 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 45,758 in Hackensack — about 59.5× larger by population. By land area, Chicago covers about 230 sq mi vs 4.2 sq mi for Hackensack.
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 | Hackensack | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,314/mo | $1,750/mo | 33.2% higher in Hackensack |
| Median home value | $304,500 | $353,000 | 15.9% higher in Hackensack |
| Median household income | $71,673 | $79,133 | 10.4% higher in Hackensack |
| Groceries index | 106.4 | 109.4 | 2.9% higher in Hackensack |
| Utilities index | 84.4 | 124.5 | 47.6% higher in Hackensack |
| Transportation index | 100.3 | 105.0 | 4.6% higher in Hackensack |
| Healthcare index | 100.2 | 105.7 | 5.5% higher in Hackensack |
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 $120,180 in Hackensack to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Chicago, IL is about 16.8% cheaper overall than Hackensack, NJ, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 33% higher in Hackensack than in Chicago. If you earn $80,000 in Chicago, you'd need about $96,144 in Hackensack to keep the same standard of living.