City comparison
Brentwood, CA is about 2,400 miles (3,800 km) from McLean, VA in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 3,000 miles, or about 50 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 Brentwood, CA to McLean, VA takes about 4 h 46 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.
Brentwood, CA is on Pacific Time and McLean, VA is on Eastern Time — a 3-hour difference. When it's noon in Brentwood, it's 3 p.m. in McLean, which puts Brentwood 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.
Brentwood has a population of 64,443, vs 49,587 in McLean — about 1.3× larger by population. By land area, McLean covers about 25 sq mi vs 15 sq mi for Brentwood.
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 | Brentwood | McLean | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $2,451/mo | $3,319/mo | 35.4% higher in McLean |
| Median home value | $735,500 | $1,257,900 | 71.0% higher in McLean |
| Median household income | $134,689 | $250,001 | 85.6% higher in McLean |
| Groceries index | 107.4 | 104.3 | 3.0% higher in Brentwood |
| Utilities index | 165.3 | 105.6 | 56.5% higher in Brentwood |
| Transportation index | 104.8 | 102.2 | 2.6% higher in Brentwood |
| Healthcare index | 104.8 | 101.6 | 3.1% higher in Brentwood |
How much you'd need to earn in the other city to keep the same standard of living.
If you earn $100,000 in Brentwood, you'd need $90,171 in McLean to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
McLean, VA is about 9.8% cheaper overall than Brentwood, CA, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 10% higher in Brentwood than in McLean. If you earn $80,000 in Brentwood, you'd need about $72,137 in McLean to keep the same standard of living.