City comparison
Austin, TX is about 1,700 miles (2,700 km) from Newton, 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 Newton, MA takes about 3 h 22 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 Newton, MA is on Eastern Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Austin, it's 1 p.m. in Newton, 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 88,453 in Newton — about 10.8× larger by population. By land area, Austin covers about 325 sq mi vs 18 sq mi for Newton.
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 | Newton | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,549/mo | $2,252/mo | 45.4% higher in Newton |
| Median home value | $461,500 | $1,136,200 | 146.2% higher in Newton |
| Median household income | $86,556 | $176,373 | 103.8% higher in Newton |
| Groceries index | 94.2 | 99.8 | 5.9% higher in Newton |
| Utilities index | 83.2 | 144.3 | 73.5% higher in Newton |
| Transportation index | 96.6 | 102.9 | 6.5% higher in Newton |
| Healthcare index | 96.1 | 103.7 | 7.9% higher in Newton |
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 $120,444 in Newton to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Austin, TX is about 17% cheaper overall than Newton, MA, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 25% higher in Newton than in Austin. If you earn $80,000 in Austin, you'd need about $96,355 in Newton to keep the same standard of living.