City comparison
Buena Park, CA is about 350 miles (550 km) from Phoenix, AZ in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 425 miles, or about 7 h 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 Buena Park, CA to Phoenix, AZ takes about 41 min, covering roughly 350 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.
Buena Park, CA is on Pacific Time and Phoenix, AZ is on Mountain Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Buena Park, it's 1 p.m. in Phoenix, which puts Buena Park 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.
Phoenix has a population of 1,609,456, vs 83,542 in Buena Park — about 19.3× larger by population. By land area, Phoenix covers about 520 sq mi vs 11 sq mi for Buena Park.
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 | Buena Park | Phoenix | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $2,012/mo | $1,322/mo | 52.2% higher in Buena Park |
| Median home value | $702,600 | $340,200 | 106.5% higher in Buena Park |
| Median household income | $101,586 | $72,092 | 40.9% higher in Buena Park |
| Groceries index | 106.4 | 95.8 | 11.0% higher in Buena Park |
| Utilities index | 155.6 | 96.2 | 61.7% higher in Buena Park |
| Transportation index | 104.4 | 104.1 | ≈ equal (Buena Park slightly higher) |
| Healthcare index | 104.3 | 104.0 | ≈ equal (Buena Park slightly higher) |
How much you'd need to earn in the other city to keep the same standard of living.
If you earn $100,000 in Buena Park, you'd need $79,380 in Phoenix to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Phoenix, AZ is about 20.6% cheaper overall than Buena Park, CA, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 41% higher in Buena Park than in Phoenix. If you earn $80,000 in Buena Park, you'd need about $63,504 in Phoenix to keep the same standard of living.