City comparison
Ontario, CA is about 325 miles (500 km) from Phoenix, AZ in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 400 miles, or about 6 h 45 min 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 Ontario, CA to Phoenix, AZ takes about 38 min, covering roughly 325 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.
Ontario, CA is on Pacific Time and Phoenix, AZ is on Mountain Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Ontario, it's 1 p.m. in Phoenix, which puts Ontario 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.
Phoenix has a population of 1,609,456, vs 176,326 in Ontario — about 9.1× larger by population. By land area, Phoenix covers about 520 sq mi vs 50 sq mi for Ontario.
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 | Ontario | Phoenix | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,826/mo | $1,322/mo | 38.1% higher in Ontario |
| Median home value | $513,000 | $340,200 | 50.8% higher in Ontario |
| Median household income | $78,070 | $72,092 | 8.3% higher in Ontario |
| Groceries index | 100.5 | 95.8 | 4.9% higher in Ontario |
| Utilities index | 143.3 | 96.2 | 49.0% higher in Ontario |
| Transportation index | 101.1 | 104.1 | 2.9% higher in Phoenix |
| Healthcare index | 102.0 | 104.0 | 2.0% higher in Phoenix |
How much you'd need to earn in the other city to keep the same standard of living.
If you earn $100,000 in Ontario, you'd need $92,520 in Phoenix to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Phoenix, AZ is about 7.5% cheaper overall than Ontario, CA, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 9% higher in Ontario than in Phoenix. If you earn $80,000 in Ontario, you'd need about $74,016 in Phoenix to keep the same standard of living.