City comparison
Austin, TX is about 450 miles (750 km) from Roswell, NM in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 550 miles, or about 9 h 30 min 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 Roswell, NM takes about 54 min, covering roughly 450 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 Roswell, NM is on Mountain Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Austin, it's 11 a.m. in Roswell, 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 48,035 in Roswell — about 19.9× larger by population. By land area, Austin covers about 325 sq mi vs 30 sq mi for Roswell.
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 | Roswell | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,549/mo | $855/mo | 81.2% higher in Austin |
| Median home value | $461,500 | $130,200 | 254.5% higher in Austin |
| Median household income | $86,556 | $48,298 | 79.2% higher in Austin |
| Groceries index | 94.2 | 96.9 | 2.8% higher in Roswell |
| Utilities index | 83.2 | 82.2 | 1.3% higher in Austin |
| Transportation index | 96.6 | 99.1 | 2.5% higher in Roswell |
| Healthcare index | 96.1 | 99.0 | 3.0% higher in Roswell |
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 $78,129 in Roswell to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Roswell, NM is about 21.9% cheaper overall than Austin, TX, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 90% higher in Austin than in Roswell. If you earn $80,000 in Austin, you'd need about $62,503 in Roswell to keep the same standard of living.