City comparison
Fontana, CA is about 300 miles (500 km) from Phoenix, AZ in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 400 miles, or about 6 h 30 min 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 Fontana, CA to Phoenix, AZ takes about 37 min, covering roughly 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.
Fontana, CA is on Pacific Time and Phoenix, AZ is on Mountain Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Fontana, it's 1 p.m. in Phoenix, which puts Fontana 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 209,279 in Fontana — about 7.7× larger by population. By land area, Phoenix covers about 520 sq mi vs 43 sq mi for Fontana.
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 | Fontana | Phoenix | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,616/mo | $1,322/mo | 22.2% higher in Fontana |
| Median home value | $506,600 | $340,200 | 48.9% higher in Fontana |
| Median household income | $93,230 | $72,092 | 29.3% higher in Fontana |
| Groceries index | 101.7 | 95.8 | 6.1% higher in Fontana |
| Utilities index | 146.5 | 96.2 | 52.3% higher in Fontana |
| Transportation index | 101.6 | 104.1 | 2.5% higher in Phoenix |
| Healthcare index | 101.5 | 104.0 | 2.5% higher in Phoenix |
How much you'd need to earn in the other city to keep the same standard of living.
If you earn $100,000 in Fontana, you'd need $92,599 in Phoenix to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Phoenix, AZ is about 7.4% cheaper overall than Fontana, CA, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 8% higher in Fontana than in Phoenix. If you earn $80,000 in Fontana, you'd need about $74,079 in Phoenix to keep the same standard of living.