City comparison
Chicago, IL is about 900 miles (1,500 km) from Lakewood, CO in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 1,200 miles, or about 19 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 Lakewood, CO takes about 1 h 51 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.
Chicago, IL is on Central Time and Lakewood, CO is on Mountain Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Chicago, it's 11 a.m. in Lakewood, which puts Chicago 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 156,149 in Lakewood — about 17.4× larger by population. By land area, Chicago covers about 230 sq mi vs 43 sq mi for Lakewood.
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 | Lakewood | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,314/mo | $1,665/mo | 26.7% higher in Lakewood |
| Median home value | $304,500 | $494,100 | 62.3% higher in Lakewood |
| Median household income | $71,673 | $82,786 | 15.5% higher in Lakewood |
| Groceries index | 106.4 | 101.2 | 5.1% higher in Chicago |
| Utilities index | 84.4 | 91.2 | 8.1% higher in Lakewood |
| Transportation index | 100.3 | 99.9 | ≈ equal (Chicago slightly higher) |
| Healthcare index | 100.2 | 99.9 | ≈ equal (Chicago slightly higher) |
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 $113,520 in Lakewood to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Chicago, IL is about 11.9% cheaper overall than Lakewood, CO, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 31% higher in Lakewood than in Chicago. If you earn $80,000 in Chicago, you'd need about $90,816 in Lakewood to keep the same standard of living.