City comparison
Cambridge, MA is about 2,300 miles (3,700 km) from Phoenix, AZ in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 2,900 miles, or about 48 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 Cambridge, MA to Phoenix, AZ takes about 4 h 35 min, covering roughly 2,300 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.
Cambridge, MA is on Eastern Time and Phoenix, AZ is on Mountain Time — a 2-hour difference. When it's noon in Cambridge, it's 10 a.m. in Phoenix, which puts Cambridge 2 hours ahead.
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 117,962 in Cambridge — about 13.6× larger by population. By land area, Phoenix covers about 520 sq mi vs 6.4 sq mi for Cambridge.
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 | Cambridge | Phoenix | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $2,628/mo | $1,322/mo | 98.8% higher in Cambridge |
| Median home value | $997,600 | $340,200 | 193.2% higher in Cambridge |
| Median household income | $121,539 | $72,092 | 68.6% higher in Cambridge |
| Groceries index | 100.1 | 95.8 | 4.5% higher in Cambridge |
| Utilities index | 147.4 | 96.2 | 53.2% higher in Cambridge |
| Transportation index | 102.2 | 104.1 | 1.8% higher in Phoenix |
| Healthcare index | 106.4 | 104.0 | 2.3% higher in Cambridge |
How much you'd need to earn in the other city to keep the same standard of living.
If you earn $100,000 in Cambridge, you'd need $84,751 in Phoenix to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Phoenix, AZ is about 15.2% cheaper overall than Cambridge, MA, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 28% higher in Cambridge than in Phoenix. If you earn $80,000 in Cambridge, you'd need about $67,801 in Phoenix to keep the same standard of living.