City comparison
Ankeny, IA is about 850 miles (1,400 km) from Columbia, SC in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 1,100 miles, or about 18 hours 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 Ankeny, IA to Columbia, SC takes about 1 h 45 min, covering roughly 850 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.
Ankeny, IA is on Central Time and Columbia, SC is on Eastern Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Ankeny, it's 1 p.m. in Columbia, which puts Ankeny 1 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.
Columbia has a population of 136,754, vs 68,392 in Ankeny — about 2.0× larger by population. By land area, Columbia covers about 140 sq mi vs 32 sq mi for Ankeny.
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 | Ankeny | Columbia | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,289/mo | $1,105/mo | 16.7% higher in Ankeny |
| Median home value | $281,700 | $226,200 | 24.5% higher in Ankeny |
| Median household income | $101,151 | $54,095 | 87.0% higher in Ankeny |
| Groceries index | 94.0 | 96.5 | 2.8% higher in Columbia |
| Utilities index | 85.2 | 88.9 | 4.3% higher in Columbia |
| Transportation index | 93.3 | 98.5 | 5.6% higher in Columbia |
| Healthcare index | 93.5 | 98.0 | 4.8% higher in Columbia |
How much you'd need to earn in the other city to keep the same standard of living.
If you earn $100,000 in Ankeny, you'd need $99,744 in Columbia to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Ankeny and Columbia have nearly identical overall cost-of-living indices. Housing costs are roughly 8% higher in Ankeny than in Columbia. If you earn $80,000 in Ankeny, you'd need about $79,795 in Columbia to keep the same standard of living.