City comparison
Austin, TX is about 1,700 miles (2,700 km) from Brookline, MA in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 2,100 miles, or about 35 hours (about 4 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 Austin, TX to Brookline, MA takes about 3 h 23 min, covering roughly 1,700 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.
Austin, TX is on Central Time and Brookline, MA is on Eastern Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Austin, it's 1 p.m. in Brookline, which puts Austin 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.
Austin has a population of 958,202, vs 62,698 in Brookline — about 15.3× larger by population. By land area, Austin covers about 325 sq mi vs 6.8 sq mi for Brookline.
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 | Austin | Brookline | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,549/mo | $2,702/mo | 74.4% higher in Brookline |
| Median home value | $461,500 | $1,181,200 | 155.9% higher in Brookline |
| Median household income | $86,556 | $130,600 | 50.9% higher in Brookline |
| Groceries index | 94.2 | 99.8 | 5.9% higher in Brookline |
| Utilities index | 83.2 | 144.3 | 73.5% higher in Brookline |
| Transportation index | 96.6 | 102.9 | 6.5% higher in Brookline |
| Healthcare index | 96.1 | 103.7 | 7.9% higher in Brookline |
How much you'd need to earn in the other city to keep the same standard of living.
If you earn $100,000 in Austin, you'd need $121,728 in Brookline to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Austin, TX is about 17.8% cheaper overall than Brookline, MA, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 28% higher in Brookline than in Austin. If you earn $80,000 in Austin, you'd need about $97,383 in Brookline to keep the same standard of living.