City comparison
Long Beach, CA is about 350 miles (550 km) from Phoenix, AZ in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 425 miles, or about 7 h 15 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 Long Beach, CA to Phoenix, AZ takes about 42 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.
Long Beach, CA is on Pacific Time and Phoenix, AZ is on Mountain Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Long Beach, it's 1 p.m. in Phoenix, which puts Long Beach 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 462,293 in Long Beach — about 3.5× larger by population. By land area, Phoenix covers about 520 sq mi vs 51 sq mi for Long Beach.
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 | Long Beach | Phoenix | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,698/mo | $1,322/mo | 28.4% higher in Long Beach |
| Median home value | $709,700 | $340,200 | 108.6% higher in Long Beach |
| Median household income | $78,995 | $72,092 | 9.6% higher in Long Beach |
| Groceries index | 106.4 | 95.8 | 11.0% higher in Long Beach |
| Utilities index | 151.7 | 96.2 | 57.7% higher in Long Beach |
| Transportation index | 104.0 | 104.1 | ≈ equal (Phoenix slightly higher) |
| Healthcare index | 104.3 | 104.0 | ≈ equal (Long Beach 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 Long Beach, you'd need $80,183 in Phoenix to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Phoenix, AZ is about 19.8% cheaper overall than Long Beach, CA, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 40% higher in Long Beach than in Phoenix. If you earn $80,000 in Long Beach, you'd need about $64,146 in Phoenix to keep the same standard of living.