City comparison
Cleveland, OH is about 175 miles (275 km) from Dayton, OH 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 Cleveland, OH to Dayton, OH 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.
Cleveland, OH is on Eastern Time and Dayton, OH is on Central Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Cleveland, it's 11 a.m. in Dayton, which puts Cleveland 1 hours ahead.
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.
Cleveland has a population of 370,365, vs 137,305 in Dayton — about 2.7× larger by population. By land area, Cleveland covers about 78 sq mi vs 56 sq mi for Dayton.
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 | Cleveland | Dayton | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $851/mo | $830/mo | 2.5% higher in Cleveland |
| Median home value | $87,400 | $86,200 | 1.4% higher in Cleveland |
| Median household income | $37,271 | $41,443 | 11.2% higher in Dayton |
| Groceries index | 93.9 | 93.9 | ≈ equal |
| Utilities index | 95.6 | 95.1 | 0.6% higher in Cleveland |
| Transportation index | 98.8 | 98.8 | ≈ equal |
| Healthcare index | 99.0 | 99.0 | ≈ equal |
How much you'd need to earn in the other city to keep the same standard of living.
If you earn $100,000 in Cleveland, you'd need $96,967 in Dayton to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Dayton, OH is about 3% cheaper overall than Cleveland, OH, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 9% higher in Cleveland than in Dayton. If you earn $80,000 in Cleveland, you'd need about $77,574 in Dayton to keep the same standard of living.