City comparison
Abilene, TX is about 400 miles (650 km) from El Paso, TX in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 500 miles, or about 8 h 15 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 Abilene, TX to El Paso, TX takes about 47 min, covering roughly 400 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.
Abilene, TX is on Central Time and El Paso, TX is on Mountain Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Abilene, it's 11 a.m. in El Paso, which puts Abilene 1 hours ahead.
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.
El Paso has a population of 677,181, vs 126,356 in Abilene — about 5.4× larger by population. By land area, El Paso covers about 260 sq mi vs 105 sq mi for Abilene.
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 | Abilene | El Paso | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,060/mo | $976/mo | 8.6% higher in Abilene |
| Median home value | $161,800 | $159,300 | 1.6% higher in Abilene |
| Median household income | $59,254 | $55,710 | 6.4% higher in Abilene |
| Groceries index | 94.2 | 94.2 | ≈ equal |
| Utilities index | 82.4 | 83.7 | 1.6% higher in El Paso |
| Transportation index | 96.6 | 96.6 | ≈ equal |
| Healthcare index | 96.1 | 96.1 | ≈ equal |
How much you'd need to earn in the other city to keep the same standard of living.
If you earn $100,000 in Abilene, you'd need $98,703 in El Paso to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
El Paso, TX is about 1.3% cheaper overall than Abilene, TX, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 4% higher in Abilene than in El Paso. If you earn $80,000 in Abilene, you'd need about $78,963 in El Paso to keep the same standard of living.