City comparison
Chicago, IL is about 850 miles (1,400 km) from Malden, MA 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 Chicago, IL to Malden, MA takes about 1 h 42 min, covering roughly 850 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 Malden, MA is on Eastern Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Chicago, it's 1 p.m. in Malden, 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 65,463 in Malden — about 41.6× larger by population. By land area, Chicago covers about 230 sq mi vs 5 sq mi for Malden.
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 | Malden | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,314/mo | $1,962/mo | 49.3% higher in Malden |
| Median home value | $304,500 | $570,600 | 87.4% higher in Malden |
| Median household income | $71,673 | $90,295 | 26.0% higher in Malden |
| Groceries index | 106.4 | 99.8 | 6.6% higher in Chicago |
| Utilities index | 84.4 | 144.3 | 71.1% higher in Malden |
| Transportation index | 100.3 | 102.9 | 2.6% higher in Malden |
| Healthcare index | 100.2 | 103.7 | 3.5% higher in Malden |
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 $120,256 in Malden to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Chicago, IL is about 16.8% cheaper overall than Malden, MA, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 34% higher in Malden than in Chicago. If you earn $80,000 in Chicago, you'd need about $96,205 in Malden to keep the same standard of living.