City comparison
Chicago, IL is about 900 miles (1,500 km) from Longmont, CO in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 1,100 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 Longmont, CO takes about 1 h 50 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 Longmont, CO is on Mountain Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Chicago, it's 11 a.m. in Longmont, 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 98,282 in Longmont — about 27.7× larger by population. By land area, Chicago covers about 230 sq mi vs 29 sq mi for Longmont.
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 | Longmont | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,314/mo | $1,689/mo | 28.5% higher in Longmont |
| Median home value | $304,500 | $488,100 | 60.3% higher in Longmont |
| Median household income | $71,673 | $89,720 | 25.2% higher in Longmont |
| Groceries index | 106.4 | 96.8 | 9.9% higher in Chicago |
| Utilities index | 84.4 | 86.5 | 2.6% higher in Longmont |
| Transportation index | 100.3 | 100.3 | ≈ equal (Chicago slightly higher) |
| Healthcare index | 100.2 | 100.2 | ≈ equal |
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 $116,305 in Longmont to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Chicago, IL is about 14% cheaper overall than Longmont, CO, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 39% higher in Longmont than in Chicago. If you earn $80,000 in Chicago, you'd need about $93,044 in Longmont to keep the same standard of living.