City comparison
Phoenix, AZ is about 1,800 miles (3,000 km) from Summerville, SC in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 2,300 miles, or about 38 hours (about 4 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 Summerville, SC takes about 3 h 40 min, covering roughly 1,800 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 Summerville, SC is on Eastern Time — a 2-hour difference. When it's noon in Phoenix, it's 2 p.m. in Summerville, which puts Phoenix 2 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 50,839 in Summerville — about 31.7× larger by population. By land area, Phoenix covers about 520 sq mi vs 23 sq mi for Summerville.
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 | Summerville | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,322/mo | $1,328/mo | 0.5% higher in Summerville |
| Median home value | $340,200 | $276,600 | 23.0% higher in Phoenix |
| Median household income | $72,092 | $73,712 | 2.2% higher in Summerville |
| Groceries index | 95.8 | 96.5 | 0.7% higher in Summerville |
| Utilities index | 96.2 | 88.8 | 8.3% higher in Phoenix |
| Transportation index | 104.1 | 98.5 | 5.7% higher in Phoenix |
| Healthcare index | 104.0 | 98.0 | 6.2% 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 Phoenix, you'd need $97,311 in Summerville to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Summerville, SC is about 2.7% cheaper overall than Phoenix, AZ, based on our cost-of-living index. If you earn $80,000 in Phoenix, you'd need about $77,849 in Summerville to keep the same standard of living.