City comparison
Austin, TX is about 700 miles (1,100 km) from Colorado Springs, CO in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 900 miles, or about 15 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 Austin, TX to Colorado Springs, CO takes about 1 h 26 min, covering roughly 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 Colorado Springs, CO is on Mountain Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Austin, it's 11 a.m. in Colorado Springs, which puts Austin 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 479,612 in Colorado Springs — about 2.0× larger by population. By land area, Austin covers about 325 sq mi vs 200 sq mi for Colorado Springs.
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 | Colorado Springs | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,549/mo | $1,464/mo | 5.8% higher in Austin |
| Median home value | $461,500 | $383,000 | 20.5% higher in Austin |
| Median household income | $86,556 | $79,026 | 9.5% higher in Austin |
| Groceries index | 94.2 | 96.8 | 2.7% higher in Colorado Springs |
| Utilities index | 83.2 | 87.0 | 4.5% higher in Colorado Springs |
| Transportation index | 96.6 | 100.3 | 3.7% higher in Colorado Springs |
| Healthcare index | 96.1 | 100.2 | 4.3% higher in Colorado Springs |
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 $100,124 in Colorado Springs to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Austin and Colorado Springs have nearly identical overall cost-of-living indices. Housing costs are roughly 4% higher in Austin than in Colorado Springs. If you earn $80,000 in Austin, you'd need about $80,099 in Colorado Springs to keep the same standard of living.