City comparison
Chicago, IL is about 850 miles (1,400 km) from Newton, 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 Newton, MA takes about 1 h 41 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 Newton, MA is on Eastern Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Chicago, it's 1 p.m. in Newton, 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 88,453 in Newton — about 30.8× larger by population. By land area, Chicago covers about 230 sq mi vs 18 sq mi for Newton.
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 | Newton | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,314/mo | $2,252/mo | 71.4% higher in Newton |
| Median home value | $304,500 | $1,136,200 | 273.1% higher in Newton |
| Median household income | $71,673 | $176,373 | 146.1% higher in Newton |
| Groceries index | 106.4 | 99.8 | 6.6% higher in Chicago |
| Utilities index | 84.4 | 144.3 | 71.1% higher in Newton |
| Transportation index | 100.3 | 102.9 | 2.6% higher in Newton |
| Healthcare index | 100.2 | 103.7 | 3.5% higher in Newton |
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 $121,089 in Newton to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Chicago, IL is about 17.4% cheaper overall than Newton, MA, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 36% higher in Newton than in Chicago. If you earn $80,000 in Chicago, you'd need about $96,871 in Newton to keep the same standard of living.