City comparison
Austin, TX is about 275 miles (450 km) from Midland, TX in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 350 miles, or about 6 h 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 Midland, TX takes about 34 min, covering roughly 275 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 Midland, TX is on Mountain Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Austin, it's 11 a.m. in Midland, 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 132,490 in Midland — about 7.2× larger by population. By land area, Austin covers about 325 sq mi vs 76 sq mi for Midland.
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 | Midland | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,549/mo | $1,400/mo | 10.6% higher in Austin |
| Median home value | $461,500 | $280,700 | 64.4% higher in Austin |
| Median household income | $86,556 | $90,448 | 4.5% higher in Midland |
| Groceries index | 94.2 | 94.2 | ≈ equal |
| Utilities index | 83.2 | 84.3 | 1.3% higher in Midland |
| Transportation index | 96.6 | 96.6 | ≈ equal |
| Healthcare index | 96.1 | 96.1 | ≈ equal |
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 $92,757 in Midland to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Midland, TX is about 7.2% cheaper overall than Austin, TX, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 18% higher in Austin than in Midland. If you earn $80,000 in Austin, you'd need about $74,206 in Midland to keep the same standard of living.