Chicago to Denver distance

Chicago to Denver by road

The fastest driving route is 1,005 miles (1,617 km) long and takes about 17 hr 50 min without stops or traffic. It runs mostly on I-80 (660 mi), I-76 (180 mi), and I-88 (140 mi).

It goes through 4 states: Illinois (159 mi), Iowa (306 mi), Nebraska (355 mi), and Colorado (185 mi). That’s an average of 56 mph (91 km/h). AAA recommends a break every two hours or 100 miles: with 8 stops of 20 minutes, the trip takes about 20 hr 30 min. At about 8 hours behind the wheel a day, it’s a 3-day drive. The time is OSRM’s estimate with OpenStreetMap data: no traffic and speeds somewhat below the limits, so real trips can differ.

Straight-line distance and bearing

In a straight line, the shortest distance over the Earth’s surface, Chicago and Denver are 919 miles (1,479 km) apart. That’s the geodesic on the WGS84 ellipsoid, the distance “as the crow flies”.

The road is 9% longer: for every 100 miles in a straight line you drive 109. The route runs almost straight. Of the 110 US driving pairs in this series, it ranks 85th for detour (the average is 16%).

From Chicago, Denver lies to the west (bearing 267°), and from Denver, Chicago lies to the east. The straight line reaches Denver on a bearing of 255°: on a sphere the bearing keeps changing along the way, which is why the shortest route looks slightly curved on a flat map.

Halfway between Chicago and Denver

Halfway along the straight line, 460 miles (740 km) from each city, is the point 41.1216° N, 96.4557° W. It falls near Memphis (Nebraska, pop. 106), 2.2 mi away.

By road, the halfway point is 502 miles (809 km) from each city, near Greenwood (Nebraska, pop. 616), 1.6 mi away. The two midpoints are 12.5 mi apart: if you want to meet halfway, the one on the road is the useful one.

Time difference and flight

Denver is 1 hour behind Chicago all year (Mountain Time versus Central Time): when it’s 12:00 in Chicago, it’s 11:00 in Denver.

A direct flight would take about 2 hr 20 min. That’s an estimate: 30 minutes for takeoff, climb, descent and landing, plus the 1,479 km straight line at 800 km/h (about 497 mph), a typical airliner cruising speed. Real schedules depend on wind, routing and airports, and not every pair has a direct flight. Westbound flights usually take a little longer than eastbound ones because of high-altitude winds (the jet stream).

The two cities

Chicago sits at 588 ft (179 m) and Denver at 5,276 ft (1,608 m), 4,688 ft (1,429 m) higher.

Chicago has 2.7 million people and Denver 740,613 people (Census Bureau estimate for 2025).