City comparison
New York, NY is about 2,600 miles (4,200 km) from San Francisco, CA in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 3,300 miles, or about 54 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 New York, NY to San Francisco, CA takes about 5 h 12 min, covering roughly 2,600 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.
New York, NY is on Eastern Time and San Francisco, CA is on Pacific Time — a 3-hour difference. When it's noon in New York, it's 9 a.m. in San Francisco, which puts New York 3 hours ahead.
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 851,036 in San Francisco — about 10.1× larger by population. By land area, New York covers about 300 sq mi vs 47 sq mi for San Francisco.
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 | New York | San Francisco | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,714/mo | $2,316/mo | 35.1% higher in San Francisco |
| Median home value | $732,100 | $1,348,700 | 84.2% higher in San Francisco |
| Median household income | $76,607 | $136,689 | 78.4% higher in San Francisco |
| Groceries index | 109.6 | 103.9 | 5.5% higher in New York |
| Utilities index | 128.8 | 162.7 | 26.2% higher in San Francisco |
| Transportation index | 105.4 | 102.0 | 3.3% higher in New York |
| Healthcare index | 105.3 | 100.2 | 5.2% 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 New York, you'd need $116,178 in San Francisco to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
New York, NY is about 13.9% cheaper overall than San Francisco, CA, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 31% higher in San Francisco than in New York. If you earn $80,000 in New York, you'd need about $92,943 in San Francisco to keep the same standard of living.