City comparison
Clearwater, FL is about 175 miles (275 km) from Jacksonville, FL in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 225 miles, or about 3 h 45 min 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 Clearwater, FL to Jacksonville, FL takes about 21 min, covering roughly 175 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.
Clearwater, FL is on Central Time and Jacksonville, FL is on Eastern Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Clearwater, it's 1 p.m. in Jacksonville, which puts Clearwater 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.
Jacksonville has a population of 950,203, vs 116,984 in Clearwater — about 8.1× larger by population. By land area, Jacksonville covers about 745 sq mi vs 26 sq mi for Clearwater.
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 | Clearwater | Jacksonville | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,389/mo | $1,281/mo | 8.4% higher in Clearwater |
| Median home value | $287,900 | $243,000 | 18.5% higher in Clearwater |
| Median household income | $59,358 | $64,138 | 8.1% higher in Jacksonville |
| Groceries index | 95.8 | 96.5 | 0.7% higher in Jacksonville |
| Utilities index | 89.1 | 88.2 | 1.0% higher in Clearwater |
| Transportation index | 97.8 | 99.0 | 1.2% higher in Jacksonville |
| Healthcare index | 97.3 | 98.5 | 1.2% higher in Jacksonville |
How much you'd need to earn in the other city to keep the same standard of living.
If you earn $100,000 in Clearwater, you'd need $94,346 in Jacksonville to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Jacksonville, FL is about 5.7% cheaper overall than Clearwater, FL, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 14% higher in Clearwater than in Jacksonville. If you earn $80,000 in Clearwater, you'd need about $75,476 in Jacksonville to keep the same standard of living.