City comparison
Allentown, PA is about 1,400 miles (2,300 km) from Austin, TX in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 1,800 miles, or about 30 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 Allentown, PA to Austin, TX takes about 2 h 52 min, covering roughly 1,400 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.
Allentown, PA is on Eastern Time and Austin, TX is on Central Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Allentown, it's 11 a.m. in Austin, which puts Allentown 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.
Austin has a population of 958,202, vs 125,292 in Allentown — about 7.6× larger by population. By land area, Austin covers about 325 sq mi vs 18 sq mi for Allentown.
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 | Allentown | Austin | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,202/mo | $1,549/mo | 28.9% higher in Austin |
| Median home value | $168,800 | $461,500 | 173.4% higher in Austin |
| Median household income | $52,449 | $86,556 | 65.0% higher in Austin |
| Groceries index | 100.6 | 94.2 | 6.8% higher in Allentown |
| Utilities index | 106.8 | 83.2 | 28.4% higher in Allentown |
| Transportation index | 97.6 | 96.6 | 1.0% higher in Allentown |
| Healthcare index | 98.4 | 96.1 | 2.4% higher in Allentown |
How much you'd need to earn in the other city to keep the same standard of living.
If you earn $100,000 in Allentown, you'd need $103,060 in Austin to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Allentown, PA is about 3% cheaper overall than Austin, TX, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 15% higher in Austin than in Allentown. If you earn $80,000 in Allentown, you'd need about $82,448 in Austin to keep the same standard of living.