What si the ground distance for a plane to get from ground level (ie the airport) to its cruising height?

The answers you are getting are wrong. Except for mine. It is different for every aircraft. Some military jets can climb vertically or close to it, so the ground distance they cover reaching cruising altitude is minimal. Even with the same aircraft it depends on the total weight of the aircraft, atmospheric conditions such as temperature and humidity, altitude of the airport, and in some cases noise regulations that dictate the climb rate and how much noise an aircraft can make to climb out. It also depends on the circumstances. For example, an aircraft leaving Bagdad is going to make a very aggressive climb-out, for obvious reasons, and use all the power it has to get to cruising altitude before being shot down. This uses a tremendous amount of fuel, and shortens the range of the aircraft. Leaving Los Angeles, where you normally climb out over uninhabited water with little or no chance of hostile fire, you can take your time reaching altitude, thus conserving fuel and giving your passengers a much less stressful ride. Flight path is another variable. If you leave an airport and fly straight all the way to cruising altitude, you would cover more ground than if you take off, fly out a few miles, and double back for some reason. This happens all the time with planes leaving Los Angeles for anywhere east of California. They all take off west over the ocean, then the ones going east turn around.

well... its going less than 250 knots until it gets over 10,000 ft. and then its going 290-300 or so... thats an average speed of about 270... (you spend more time over 10,000 than under)... thats about 280 mph... ascent rates are about 2,000 ft. per minute... we will assume 30,000 ft. since its easy to work with, it will take about 13 minutes to get to 30,000 since the rate of climb is faster at takeoff and you typially dont take off at sea level... 13 minutes is about a quarter hour... 280 mph divided by four = 70... a little less than that is 60-65 miles... Just thought I would work it out for you... (note: some airplanes climb at higher rates than others) Thats just an estimate...

It typically depends on the rate of ascent. Judging from the suburbs I would say 20-30 miles.