City comparison
Los Angeles, CA is about 2,500 miles (4,000 km) from New York, NY 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 Los Angeles, CA to New York, NY takes about 4 h 55 min, covering roughly 2,500 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.
Los Angeles, CA is on Pacific Time and New York, NY is on Eastern Time — a 3-hour difference. When it's noon in Los Angeles, it's 3 p.m. in New York, which puts Los Angeles 3 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.
New York has a population of 8,622,467, vs 3,881,041 in Los Angeles — about 2.2× larger by population. By land area, Los Angeles covers about 470 sq mi vs 300 sq mi for New York.
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 | Los Angeles | New York | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,791/mo | $1,714/mo | 4.5% higher in Los Angeles |
| Median home value | $822,600 | $732,100 | 12.4% higher in Los Angeles |
| Median household income | $76,244 | $76,607 | 0.5% higher in New York |
| Groceries index | 106.4 | 109.6 | 3.0% higher in New York |
| Utilities index | 151.7 | 128.8 | 17.8% higher in Los Angeles |
| Transportation index | 104.0 | 105.4 | 1.3% higher in New York |
| Healthcare index | 104.3 | 105.3 | 0.9% higher in New York |
How much you'd need to earn in the other city to keep the same standard of living.
If you earn $100,000 in Los Angeles, you'd need $92,823 in New York to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
New York, NY is about 7.2% cheaper overall than Los Angeles, CA, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 14% higher in Los Angeles than in New York. If you earn $80,000 in Los Angeles, you'd need about $74,258 in New York to keep the same standard of living.