City comparison
Chicago, IL is about 700 miles (1,100 km) from Paterson, NJ in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 900 miles, or about 15 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 Paterson, NJ takes about 1 h 24 min, covering roughly 700 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 Paterson, NJ is on Eastern Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Chicago, it's 1 p.m. in Paterson, 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 157,864 in Paterson — about 17.2× larger by population. By land area, Chicago covers about 230 sq mi vs 8.4 sq mi for Paterson.
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 | Paterson | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,314/mo | $1,392/mo | 5.9% higher in Paterson |
| Median home value | $304,500 | $314,100 | 3.2% higher in Paterson |
| Median household income | $71,673 | $52,092 | 37.6% higher in Chicago |
| Groceries index | 106.4 | 109.4 | 2.9% higher in Paterson |
| Utilities index | 84.4 | 124.5 | 47.6% higher in Paterson |
| Transportation index | 100.3 | 105.0 | 4.6% higher in Paterson |
| Healthcare index | 100.2 | 105.7 | 5.5% higher in Paterson |
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 $119,156 in Paterson to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Chicago, IL is about 16.1% cheaper overall than Paterson, NJ, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 30% higher in Paterson than in Chicago. If you earn $80,000 in Chicago, you'd need about $95,325 in Paterson to keep the same standard of living.