City comparison
Lakewood, NJ is about 2,400 miles (3,900 km) from Los Angeles, CA in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 3,100 miles, or about 51 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 Lakewood, NJ to Los Angeles, CA takes about 4 h 54 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.
Lakewood, NJ is on Eastern Time and Los Angeles, CA is on Pacific Time — a 3-hour difference. When it's noon in Lakewood, it's 9 a.m. in Los Angeles, which puts Lakewood 3 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.
Los Angeles has a population of 3,881,041, vs 68,555 in Lakewood — about 56.6× larger by population. By land area, Los Angeles covers about 470 sq mi vs 7.1 sq mi for Lakewood.
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 | Lakewood | Los Angeles | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,619/mo | $1,791/mo | 10.6% higher in Los Angeles |
| Median home value | $604,600 | $822,600 | 36.1% higher in Los Angeles |
| Median household income | $54,826 | $76,244 | 39.1% higher in Los Angeles |
| Groceries index | 107.2 | 106.4 | 0.8% higher in Lakewood |
| Utilities index | 121.4 | 151.7 | 25.0% higher in Los Angeles |
| Transportation index | 103.3 | 104.0 | 0.7% higher in Los Angeles |
| Healthcare index | 104.1 | 104.3 | ≈ equal (Los Angeles 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 Lakewood, you'd need $110,486 in Los Angeles to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Lakewood, NJ is about 9.5% cheaper overall than Los Angeles, CA, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 17% higher in Los Angeles than in Lakewood. If you earn $80,000 in Lakewood, you'd need about $88,389 in Los Angeles to keep the same standard of living.