City comparison
Los Angeles, CA is about 1,400 miles (2,300 km) from West Des Moines, IA in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 1,800 miles, or about 30 hours (about 3 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 West Des Moines, IA takes about 2 h 52 min, covering roughly 1,400 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.
Los Angeles, CA is on Pacific Time and West Des Moines, IA is on Central Time — a 2-hour difference. When it's noon in Los Angeles, it's 2 p.m. in West Des Moines, which puts Los Angeles 2 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 68,744 in West Des Moines — about 56.5× larger by population. By land area, Los Angeles covers about 470 sq mi vs 47 sq mi for West Des Moines.
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 | West Des Moines | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,791/mo | $1,153/mo | 55.3% higher in Los Angeles |
| Median home value | $822,600 | $266,700 | 208.4% higher in Los Angeles |
| Median household income | $76,244 | $82,345 | 8.0% higher in West Des Moines |
| Groceries index | 106.4 | 94.0 | 13.2% higher in Los Angeles |
| Utilities index | 151.7 | 85.2 | 78.0% higher in Los Angeles |
| Transportation index | 104.0 | 93.3 | 11.5% higher in Los Angeles |
| Healthcare index | 104.3 | 93.5 | 11.6% 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 $65,817 in West Des Moines to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
West Des Moines, IA is about 34.2% cheaper overall than Los Angeles, CA, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 97% higher in Los Angeles than in West Des Moines. If you earn $80,000 in Los Angeles, you'd need about $52,653 in West Des Moines to keep the same standard of living.