City comparison
Philadelphia, PA is about 950 miles (1,600 km) from St. Paul, MN in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 1,200 miles, or about 20 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 Philadelphia, PA to St. Paul, MN takes about 1 h 57 min, covering roughly 950 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.
Philadelphia, PA is on Eastern Time and St. Paul, MN is on Central Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Philadelphia, it's 11 a.m. in St. Paul, which puts Philadelphia 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.
Philadelphia has a population of 1,593,208, vs 308,806 in St. Paul — about 5.2× larger by population. By land area, Philadelphia covers about 135 sq mi vs 52 sq mi for St. Paul.
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 | Philadelphia | St. Paul | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,250/mo | $1,174/mo | 6.5% higher in Philadelphia |
| Median home value | $215,500 | $264,900 | 22.9% higher in St. Paul |
| Median household income | $57,537 | $69,919 | 21.5% higher in St. Paul |
| Groceries index | 97.0 | 102.5 | 5.6% higher in St. Paul |
| Utilities index | 112.3 | 93.3 | 20.4% higher in Philadelphia |
| Transportation index | 101.7 | 103.7 | 2.0% higher in St. Paul |
| Healthcare index | 102.7 | 103.9 | 1.2% higher in St. Paul |
How much you'd need to earn in the other city to keep the same standard of living.
If you earn $100,000 in Philadelphia, you'd need $99,097 in St. Paul to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
St. Paul, MN is about 0.9% cheaper overall than Philadelphia, PA, based on our cost-of-living index. If you earn $80,000 in Philadelphia, you'd need about $79,277 in St. Paul to keep the same standard of living.