City comparison
Jacksonville, FL is about 175 miles (300 km) from St. Petersburg, FL in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 225 miles, or about 4 h 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 Jacksonville, FL to St. Petersburg, FL takes about 22 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.
Jacksonville, FL is on Eastern Time and St. Petersburg, FL is on Central Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Jacksonville, it's 11 a.m. in St. Petersburg, which puts Jacksonville 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.
Jacksonville has a population of 950,203, vs 259,343 in St. Petersburg — about 3.7× larger by population. By land area, Jacksonville covers about 745 sq mi vs 62 sq mi for St. Petersburg.
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 | Jacksonville | St. Petersburg | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,281/mo | $1,410/mo | 10.1% higher in St. Petersburg |
| Median home value | $243,000 | $289,000 | 18.9% higher in St. Petersburg |
| Median household income | $64,138 | $70,333 | 9.7% higher in St. Petersburg |
| Groceries index | 96.5 | 95.8 | 0.7% higher in Jacksonville |
| Utilities index | 88.2 | 89.1 | 1.0% higher in St. Petersburg |
| Transportation index | 99.0 | 97.8 | 1.2% higher in Jacksonville |
| Healthcare index | 98.5 | 97.3 | 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 Jacksonville, you'd need $106,052 in St. Petersburg to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Jacksonville, FL is about 5.7% cheaper overall than St. Petersburg, FL, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 14% higher in St. Petersburg than in Jacksonville. If you earn $80,000 in Jacksonville, you'd need about $84,842 in St. Petersburg to keep the same standard of living.