City comparison
Los Angeles, CA is about 850 miles (1,400 km) from Thornton, CO in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 1,100 miles, or about 18 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 Los Angeles, CA to Thornton, CO takes about 1 h 42 min, covering roughly 850 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 Thornton, CO is on Mountain Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Los Angeles, it's 1 p.m. in Thornton, which puts Los Angeles 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.
Los Angeles has a population of 3,881,041, vs 141,799 in Thornton — about 27.4× larger by population. By land area, Los Angeles covers about 470 sq mi vs 37 sq mi for Thornton.
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 | Thornton | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,791/mo | $1,758/mo | 1.9% higher in Los Angeles |
| Median home value | $822,600 | $445,200 | 84.8% higher in Los Angeles |
| Median household income | $76,244 | $95,064 | 24.7% higher in Thornton |
| Groceries index | 106.4 | 101.2 | 5.1% higher in Los Angeles |
| Utilities index | 151.7 | 91.2 | 66.4% higher in Los Angeles |
| Transportation index | 104.0 | 99.9 | 4.1% higher in Los Angeles |
| Healthcare index | 104.3 | 99.9 | 4.5% higher in Los Angeles |
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 $87,628 in Thornton to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Thornton, CO is about 12.4% cheaper overall than Los Angeles, CA, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 15% higher in Los Angeles than in Thornton. If you earn $80,000 in Los Angeles, you'd need about $70,102 in Thornton to keep the same standard of living.