City comparison
Chicago, IL is about 600 miles (1,000 km) from Reading, PA in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 800 miles, or about 13 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 Reading, PA takes about 1 h 14 min, covering roughly 600 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 Reading, PA is on Eastern Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Chicago, it's 1 p.m. in Reading, 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 94,601 in Reading — about 28.8× larger by population. By land area, Chicago covers about 230 sq mi vs 9.8 sq mi for Reading.
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 | Reading | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,314/mo | $942/mo | 39.5% higher in Chicago |
| Median home value | $304,500 | $96,900 | 214.2% higher in Chicago |
| Median household income | $71,673 | $42,852 | 67.3% higher in Chicago |
| Groceries index | 106.4 | 100.7 | 5.6% higher in Chicago |
| Utilities index | 84.4 | 107.4 | 27.3% higher in Reading |
| Transportation index | 100.3 | 97.6 | 2.8% higher in Chicago |
| Healthcare index | 100.2 | 98.3 | 1.9% 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 $89,456 in Reading to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Reading, PA is about 10.5% cheaper overall than Chicago, IL, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 32% higher in Chicago than in Reading. If you earn $80,000 in Chicago, you'd need about $71,564 in Reading to keep the same standard of living.