City comparison
Lakewood, OH is about 600 miles (1,000 km) from West Des Moines, IA in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 750 miles, or about 13 hours 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, OH to West Des Moines, IA takes about 1 h 14 min, covering roughly 600 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, OH is on Eastern Time and West Des Moines, IA is on Central Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Lakewood, it's 11 a.m. in West Des Moines, which puts Lakewood 1 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.
West Des Moines has a population of 68,744, vs 50,605 in Lakewood — about 1.4× larger by population. By land area, West Des Moines covers about 47 sq mi vs 5.5 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 | West Des Moines | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $941/mo | $1,153/mo | 22.5% higher in West Des Moines |
| Median home value | $221,100 | $266,700 | 20.6% higher in West Des Moines |
| Median household income | $63,299 | $82,345 | 30.1% higher in West Des Moines |
| Groceries index | 93.9 | 94.0 | ≈ equal (West Des Moines slightly higher) |
| Utilities index | 95.6 | 85.2 | 12.2% higher in Lakewood |
| Transportation index | 98.8 | 93.3 | 5.9% higher in Lakewood |
| Healthcare index | 99.0 | 93.5 | 5.9% higher in Lakewood |
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 $100,022 in West Des Moines to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Lakewood and West Des Moines have nearly identical overall cost-of-living indices. Housing costs are roughly 8% higher in West Des Moines than in Lakewood. If you earn $80,000 in Lakewood, you'd need about $80,018 in West Des Moines to keep the same standard of living.