City comparison
Dubuque, IA is about 600 miles (1,000 km) from Johnson City, TN 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 Dubuque, IA to Johnson City, TN 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.
Dubuque, IA is on Central Time and Johnson City, TN is on Eastern Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Dubuque, it's 1 p.m. in Johnson City, which puts Dubuque 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.
Johnson City has a population of 70,720, vs 59,315 in Dubuque — about 1.2× larger by population. By land area, Johnson City covers about 44 sq mi vs 31 sq mi for Dubuque.
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 | Dubuque | Johnson City | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $915/mo | $893/mo | 2.5% higher in Dubuque |
| Median home value | $178,000 | $215,500 | 21.1% higher in Johnson City |
| Median household income | $63,520 | $53,173 | 19.5% higher in Dubuque |
| Groceries index | 94.0 | 96.5 | 2.7% higher in Johnson City |
| Utilities index | 82.2 | 74.0 | 11.0% higher in Dubuque |
| Transportation index | 93.3 | 95.6 | 2.5% higher in Johnson City |
| Healthcare index | 93.5 | 95.1 | 1.7% higher in Johnson City |
How much you'd need to earn in the other city to keep the same standard of living.
If you earn $100,000 in Dubuque, you'd need $99,950 in Johnson City to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Dubuque and Johnson City have nearly identical overall cost-of-living indices. If you earn $80,000 in Dubuque, you'd need about $79,960 in Johnson City to keep the same standard of living.