However, one change that is based on distance is ground stations. With starlink they want a ground station under every satellite to minimize the number of hops required. Satellite internet however has minimal ground stations because they gain little from adding more. Similarly, less physical distance let's them more efficiently manage bandwidth reducing queuing delays.

PS: Also, it's a round trip so you subtract latency twice from the total delay. Further, it’s not just altitude GEO is above the equator at a specific point which can be significantly east or west of you. Giving Ohio worse latency than Florida etc.