City comparison
Los Angeles, CA is about 2,400 miles (3,800 km) from Wilkes-Barre, PA in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 2,900 miles, or about 49 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 Wilkes-Barre, PA takes about 4 h 43 min, covering roughly 2,400 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 Wilkes-Barre, PA is on Eastern Time — a 3-hour difference. When it's noon in Los Angeles, it's 3 p.m. in Wilkes-Barre, 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.
Los Angeles has a population of 3,881,041, vs 44,123 in Wilkes-Barre — about 88.0× larger by population. By land area, Los Angeles covers about 470 sq mi vs 6.8 sq mi for Wilkes-Barre.
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 | Wilkes-Barre | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,791/mo | $897/mo | 99.7% higher in Los Angeles |
| Median home value | $822,600 | $98,200 | 737.7% higher in Los Angeles |
| Median household income | $76,244 | $46,597 | 63.6% higher in Los Angeles |
| Groceries index | 106.4 | 100.7 | 5.6% higher in Los Angeles |
| Utilities index | 151.7 | 105.9 | 43.3% higher in Los Angeles |
| Transportation index | 104.0 | 97.6 | 6.6% higher in Los Angeles |
| Healthcare index | 104.3 | 98.3 | 6.1% 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 $63,459 in Wilkes-Barre to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Wilkes-Barre, PA is about 36.5% cheaper overall than Los Angeles, CA, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 149% higher in Los Angeles than in Wilkes-Barre. If you earn $80,000 in Los Angeles, you'd need about $50,767 in Wilkes-Barre to keep the same standard of living.