City comparison
Pontiac, MI is about 550 miles (850 km) from Portsmouth, VA in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 700 miles, or about 11 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 Pontiac, MI to Portsmouth, VA takes about 1 h 5 min, covering roughly 550 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.
Pontiac, MI is on Central Time and Portsmouth, VA is on Eastern Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Pontiac, it's 1 p.m. in Portsmouth, which puts Pontiac 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.
Portsmouth has a population of 97,384, vs 61,965 in Pontiac — about 1.6× larger by population. By land area, Portsmouth covers about 33 sq mi vs 20 sq mi for Pontiac.
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 | Pontiac | Portsmouth | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $947/mo | $1,225/mo | 29.4% higher in Portsmouth |
| Median home value | $100,100 | $213,300 | 113.1% higher in Portsmouth |
| Median household income | $40,307 | $57,154 | 41.8% higher in Portsmouth |
| Groceries index | 98.6 | 96.9 | 1.7% higher in Pontiac |
| Utilities index | 105.6 | 90.0 | 17.3% higher in Pontiac |
| Transportation index | 102.1 | 98.8 | 3.3% higher in Pontiac |
| Healthcare index | 102.3 | 98.3 | 4.1% higher in Pontiac |
How much you'd need to earn in the other city to keep the same standard of living.
If you earn $100,000 in Pontiac, you'd need $100,000 in Portsmouth to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Pontiac and Portsmouth have nearly identical overall cost-of-living indices. Housing costs are roughly 7% higher in Portsmouth than in Pontiac. If you earn $80,000 in Pontiac, you'd need about $80,000 in Portsmouth to keep the same standard of living.