City comparison
Chicago, IL is about 600 miles (1,000 km) from Wilkes-Barre, PA in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 750 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 Wilkes-Barre, PA takes about 1 h 13 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 Wilkes-Barre, PA is on Eastern Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Chicago, it's 1 p.m. in Wilkes-Barre, 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 44,123 in Wilkes-Barre — about 61.7× larger by population. By land area, Chicago covers about 230 sq mi vs 6.8 sq mi for Wilkes-Barre.
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 | Wilkes-Barre | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,314/mo | $897/mo | 46.5% higher in Chicago |
| Median home value | $304,500 | $98,200 | 210.1% higher in Chicago |
| Median household income | $71,673 | $46,597 | 53.8% higher in Chicago |
| Groceries index | 106.4 | 100.7 | 5.6% higher in Chicago |
| Utilities index | 84.4 | 105.9 | 25.5% higher in Wilkes-Barre |
| 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 $82,404 in Wilkes-Barre to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Wilkes-Barre, PA is about 17.6% cheaper overall than Chicago, IL, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 65% higher in Chicago than in Wilkes-Barre. If you earn $80,000 in Chicago, you'd need about $65,923 in Wilkes-Barre to keep the same standard of living.