Distance from Chicago to Nairobi
The great-circle distance between Chicago, United States and Nairobi, Kenya is 12,885 km (8,006 mi · 6,957 nmi) — the shortest possible route over the Earth's surface, the path aircraft approximately follow.
The numbers
- Great-circle distance
- 12,885 km · 8,006 mi · 6,957 nmi
- Initial bearing Chicago → Nairobi
- 66° (ENE)
- Initial bearing Nairobi → Chicago
- 317° (NW)
- Nonstop flight (rough estimate)
- ≈ 15 h 49 min
- Time zones
- Chicago UTC-05:00 · Nairobi UTC+03:00 (+8 h)
- Sunrise gap today
- 497 min — the sun rises later in Chicago
Flight time is a cruise-speed approximation (no routing/wind); driving distance depends on roads and is typically 20–40% longer than great-circle.
The two cities
- Chicago
- 41.8500, -87.6500
- Sunrise / sunset today
- 11:40 UTC / 23:48 UTC
- Nairobi
- -1.2833, 36.8167
- Sunrise / sunset today
- 03:23 UTC / 15:29 UTC
Open in the distance calculator Find the halfway point
Distances here are straight-line (great-circle). Road routes typically run 1.2–1.4× longer — here's why, with the visual.