City comparison
Fort Pierce, FL is about 1,100 miles (1,800 km) from Waukegan, IL in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 1,400 miles, or about 23 hours (about 2 days at 10 h/day) 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 Fort Pierce, FL to Waukegan, IL takes about 2 h 14 min, covering roughly 1,100 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.
Fort Pierce, FL is on Eastern Time and Waukegan, IL is on Central Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Fort Pierce, it's 11 a.m. in Waukegan, which puts Fort Pierce 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.
Waukegan has a population of 89,435, vs 47,153 in Fort Pierce — about 1.9× larger by population. By land area, Fort Pierce covers about 25 sq mi vs 24 sq mi for Waukegan.
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 | Fort Pierce | Waukegan | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,106/mo | $1,132/mo | 2.4% higher in Waukegan |
| Median home value | $191,200 | $164,400 | 16.3% higher in Fort Pierce |
| Median household income | $45,121 | $66,077 | 46.4% higher in Waukegan |
| Groceries index | 96.5 | 106.0 | 9.9% higher in Waukegan |
| Utilities index | 87.7 | 84.8 | 3.5% higher in Fort Pierce |
| Transportation index | 99.0 | 100.1 | 1.1% higher in Waukegan |
| Healthcare index | 98.5 | 100.3 | 1.9% higher in Waukegan |
How much you'd need to earn in the other city to keep the same standard of living.
If you earn $100,000 in Fort Pierce, you'd need $99,776 in Waukegan to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Fort Pierce and Waukegan have nearly identical overall cost-of-living indices. Housing costs are roughly 4% higher in Fort Pierce than in Waukegan. If you earn $80,000 in Fort Pierce, you'd need about $79,821 in Waukegan to keep the same standard of living.