City comparison
Hawthorne, CA is about 350 miles (600 km) from Phoenix, AZ in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 450 miles, or about 7 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 Hawthorne, CA to Phoenix, AZ takes about 43 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.
Hawthorne, CA is on Pacific Time and Phoenix, AZ is on Mountain Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Hawthorne, it's 1 p.m. in Phoenix, which puts Hawthorne 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 86,978 in Hawthorne — about 18.5× larger by population. By land area, Phoenix covers about 520 sq mi vs 6.1 sq mi for Hawthorne.
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 | Hawthorne | Phoenix | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,641/mo | $1,322/mo | 24.1% higher in Hawthorne |
| Median home value | $731,200 | $340,200 | 114.9% higher in Hawthorne |
| Median household income | $72,298 | $72,092 | 0.3% higher in Hawthorne |
| Groceries index | 106.4 | 95.8 | 11.0% higher in Hawthorne |
| Utilities index | 155.6 | 96.2 | 61.7% higher in Hawthorne |
| Transportation index | 104.4 | 104.1 | ≈ equal (Hawthorne slightly higher) |
| Healthcare index | 104.3 | 104.0 | ≈ equal (Hawthorne 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 Hawthorne, you'd need $80,035 in Phoenix to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Phoenix, AZ is about 20% cheaper overall than Hawthorne, CA, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 39% higher in Hawthorne than in Phoenix. If you earn $80,000 in Hawthorne, you'd need about $64,028 in Phoenix to keep the same standard of living.