City comparison
Brea, CA is about 2,400 miles (3,800 km) from Philadelphia, PA in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 3,000 miles, or about 49 hours (about 5 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 Brea, CA to Philadelphia, PA takes about 4 h 45 min, covering roughly 2,400 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.
Brea, CA is on Pacific Time and Philadelphia, PA is on Eastern Time — a 3-hour difference. When it's noon in Brea, it's 3 p.m. in Philadelphia, which puts Brea 3 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.
Philadelphia has a population of 1,593,208, vs 47,099 in Brea — about 33.8× larger by population. By land area, Philadelphia covers about 135 sq mi vs 13 sq mi for Brea.
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 | Brea | Philadelphia | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $2,218/mo | $1,250/mo | 77.4% higher in Brea |
| Median home value | $834,600 | $215,500 | 287.3% higher in Brea |
| Median household income | $120,226 | $57,537 | 109.0% higher in Brea |
| Groceries index | 106.4 | 97.0 | 9.7% higher in Brea |
| Utilities index | 155.6 | 112.3 | 38.5% higher in Brea |
| Transportation index | 104.4 | 101.7 | 2.6% higher in Brea |
| Healthcare index | 104.3 | 102.7 | 1.6% higher in Brea |
How much you'd need to earn in the other city to keep the same standard of living.
If you earn $100,000 in Brea, you'd need $77,325 in Philadelphia to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Philadelphia, PA is about 22.7% cheaper overall than Brea, CA, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 53% higher in Brea than in Philadelphia. If you earn $80,000 in Brea, you'd need about $61,860 in Philadelphia to keep the same standard of living.