City comparison
Austin, TX is about 1,400 miles (2,300 km) from Reno, NV in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 1,800 miles, or about 29 hours (about 3 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 Reno, NV takes about 2 h 48 min, covering roughly 1,400 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 Reno, NV is on Pacific Time — a 2-hour difference. When it's noon in Austin, it's 10 a.m. in Reno, which puts Austin 2 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 265,196 in Reno — about 3.6× larger by population. By land area, Austin covers about 325 sq mi vs 110 sq mi for Reno.
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 | Reno | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,549/mo | $1,360/mo | 13.9% higher in Austin |
| Median home value | $461,500 | $462,100 | 0.1% higher in Reno |
| Median household income | $86,556 | $73,073 | 18.5% higher in Austin |
| Groceries index | 94.2 | 97.0 | 2.9% higher in Reno |
| Utilities index | 83.2 | 92.5 | 11.2% higher in Reno |
| Transportation index | 96.6 | 99.3 | 2.7% higher in Reno |
| Healthcare index | 96.1 | 99.2 | 3.2% higher in Reno |
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 $102,693 in Reno to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Austin, TX is about 2.6% cheaper overall than Reno, NV, based on our cost-of-living index. If you earn $80,000 in Austin, you'd need about $82,155 in Reno to keep the same standard of living.