City comparison
Los Angeles, CA is about 2,300 miles (3,700 km) from Wilmington, NC in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 2,900 miles, or about 48 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 Wilmington, NC takes about 4 h 36 min, covering roughly 2,300 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 Wilmington, NC is on Eastern Time — a 3-hour difference. When it's noon in Los Angeles, it's 3 p.m. in Wilmington, 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 116,933 in Wilmington — about 33.2× larger by population. By land area, Los Angeles covers about 470 sq mi vs 51 sq mi for Wilmington.
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 | Wilmington | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,791/mo | $1,213/mo | 47.7% higher in Los Angeles |
| Median home value | $822,600 | $318,600 | 158.2% higher in Los Angeles |
| Median household income | $76,244 | $58,908 | 29.4% higher in Los Angeles |
| Groceries index | 106.4 | 96.8 | 9.9% higher in Los Angeles |
| Utilities index | 151.7 | 88.5 | 71.4% higher in Los Angeles |
| Transportation index | 104.0 | 98.4 | 5.7% higher in Los Angeles |
| Healthcare index | 104.3 | 97.9 | 6.6% 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 $70,069 in Wilmington to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Wilmington, NC is about 29.9% cheaper overall than Los Angeles, CA, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 80% higher in Los Angeles than in Wilmington. If you earn $80,000 in Los Angeles, you'd need about $56,055 in Wilmington to keep the same standard of living.