City comparison
Chicago, IL is about 900 miles (1,500 km) from Palm Coast, FL 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 Palm Coast, FL 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 Palm Coast, FL is on Eastern Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Chicago, it's 1 p.m. in Palm Coast, 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 91,082 in Palm Coast — about 29.9× larger by population. By land area, Chicago covers about 230 sq mi vs 96 sq mi for Palm Coast.
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 | Palm Coast | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,314/mo | $1,621/mo | 23.4% higher in Palm Coast |
| Median home value | $304,500 | $283,300 | 7.5% higher in Chicago |
| Median household income | $71,673 | $68,824 | 4.1% higher in Chicago |
| Groceries index | 106.4 | 96.5 | 10.3% higher in Chicago |
| Utilities index | 84.4 | 88.2 | 4.6% higher in Palm Coast |
| Transportation index | 100.3 | 99.0 | 1.3% higher in Chicago |
| Healthcare index | 100.2 | 98.5 | 1.7% higher in Chicago |
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 $97,857 in Palm Coast to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Palm Coast, FL is about 2.1% cheaper overall than Chicago, IL, based on our cost-of-living index. If you earn $80,000 in Chicago, you'd need about $78,285 in Palm Coast to keep the same standard of living.