City comparison
Austin, TX is about 1,100 miles (1,700 km) from North Charleston, SC in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 1,300 miles, or about 22 hours (about 2 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 North Charleston, SC takes about 2 h 7 min, covering roughly 1,100 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 North Charleston, SC is on Eastern Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Austin, it's 1 p.m. in North Charleston, 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 115,755 in North Charleston — about 8.3× larger by population. By land area, Austin covers about 325 sq mi vs 78 sq mi for North Charleston.
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 | North Charleston | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,549/mo | $1,288/mo | 20.3% higher in Austin |
| Median home value | $461,500 | $243,300 | 89.7% higher in Austin |
| Median household income | $86,556 | $58,534 | 47.9% higher in Austin |
| Groceries index | 94.2 | 96.5 | 2.5% higher in North Charleston |
| Utilities index | 83.2 | 88.8 | 6.8% higher in North Charleston |
| Transportation index | 96.6 | 98.5 | 1.9% higher in North Charleston |
| Healthcare index | 96.1 | 98.0 | 1.9% higher in North Charleston |
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 $100,457 in North Charleston to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Austin and North Charleston have nearly identical overall cost-of-living indices. Housing costs are roughly 2% higher in Austin than in North Charleston. If you earn $80,000 in Austin, you'd need about $80,365 in North Charleston to keep the same standard of living.