City comparison
Arlington, VA is about 1,300 miles (2,100 km) from Austin, TX in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 1,600 miles, or about 27 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 Arlington, VA to Austin, TX takes about 2 h 37 min, covering roughly 1,300 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.
Arlington, VA is on Eastern Time and Austin, TX is on Central Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Arlington, it's 11 a.m. in Austin, which puts Arlington 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 235,845 in Arlington — about 4.1× larger by population. By land area, Austin covers about 325 sq mi vs 26 sq mi for Arlington.
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 | Arlington | Austin | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $2,227/mo | $1,549/mo | 43.8% higher in Arlington |
| Median home value | $833,300 | $461,500 | 80.6% higher in Arlington |
| Median household income | $137,387 | $86,556 | 58.7% higher in Arlington |
| Groceries index | 104.6 | 94.2 | 11.0% higher in Arlington |
| Utilities index | 105.0 | 83.2 | 26.2% higher in Arlington |
| Transportation index | 101.2 | 96.6 | 4.7% higher in Arlington |
| Healthcare index | 101.5 | 96.1 | 5.6% higher in Arlington |
How much you'd need to earn in the other city to keep the same standard of living.
If you earn $100,000 in Arlington, you'd need $84,604 in Austin to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Austin, TX is about 15.4% cheaper overall than Arlington, VA, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 27% higher in Arlington than in Austin. If you earn $80,000 in Arlington, you'd need about $67,683 in Austin to keep the same standard of living.