City comparison
Phoenix, AZ is about 1,300 miles (2,000 km) from Plymouth, MN in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 1,600 miles, or about 26 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 Phoenix, AZ to Plymouth, MN takes about 2 h 32 min, covering roughly 1,300 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.
Phoenix, AZ is on Mountain Time and Plymouth, MN is on Central Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Phoenix, it's 1 p.m. in Plymouth, which puts Phoenix 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 79,918 in Plymouth — about 20.1× larger by population. By land area, Phoenix covers about 520 sq mi vs 33 sq mi for Plymouth.
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 | Phoenix | Plymouth | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,322/mo | $1,625/mo | 22.9% higher in Plymouth |
| Median home value | $340,200 | $447,600 | 31.6% higher in Plymouth |
| Median household income | $72,092 | $130,131 | 80.5% higher in Plymouth |
| Groceries index | 95.8 | 102.5 | 6.9% higher in Plymouth |
| Utilities index | 96.2 | 93.3 | 3.1% higher in Phoenix |
| Transportation index | 104.1 | 103.7 | ≈ equal (Phoenix slightly higher) |
| Healthcare index | 104.0 | 103.9 | ≈ equal (Phoenix slightly higher) |
How much you'd need to earn in the other city to keep the same standard of living.
If you earn $100,000 in Phoenix, you'd need $98,214 in Plymouth to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Plymouth, MN is about 1.8% cheaper overall than Phoenix, AZ, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 6% higher in Phoenix than in Plymouth. If you earn $80,000 in Phoenix, you'd need about $78,571 in Plymouth to keep the same standard of living.