City comparison
Chicago, IL is about 750 miles (1,200 km) from New Haven, CT in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 950 miles, or about 16 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 New Haven, CT takes about 1 h 32 min, covering roughly 750 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 New Haven, CT is on Eastern Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Chicago, it's 1 p.m. in New Haven, 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 135,736 in New Haven — about 20.1× larger by population. By land area, Chicago covers about 230 sq mi vs 19 sq mi for New Haven.
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 | New Haven | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,314/mo | $1,402/mo | 6.7% higher in New Haven |
| Median home value | $304,500 | $236,500 | 28.8% higher in Chicago |
| Median household income | $71,673 | $54,305 | 32.0% higher in Chicago |
| Groceries index | 106.4 | 106.7 | ≈ equal (New Haven slightly higher) |
| Utilities index | 84.4 | 128.3 | 52.0% higher in New Haven |
| Transportation index | 100.3 | 104.3 | 3.9% higher in New Haven |
| Healthcare index | 100.2 | 105.1 | 4.8% higher in New Haven |
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 $116,802 in New Haven to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Chicago, IL is about 14.4% cheaper overall than New Haven, CT, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 26% higher in New Haven than in Chicago. If you earn $80,000 in Chicago, you'd need about $93,442 in New Haven to keep the same standard of living.