City comparison
Austin, TX is about 1,200 miles (1,900 km) from San Bernardino, CA in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 1,500 miles, or about 24 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 San Bernardino, CA takes about 2 h 20 min, covering roughly 1,200 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 San Bernardino, CA is on Pacific Time — a 2-hour difference. When it's noon in Austin, it's 10 a.m. in San Bernardino, 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 221,041 in San Bernardino — about 4.3× larger by population. By land area, Austin covers about 325 sq mi vs 62 sq mi for San Bernardino.
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 | San Bernardino | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,549/mo | $1,319/mo | 17.4% higher in Austin |
| Median home value | $461,500 | $347,100 | 33.0% higher in Austin |
| Median household income | $86,556 | $61,323 | 41.1% higher in Austin |
| Groceries index | 94.2 | 100.5 | 6.7% higher in San Bernardino |
| Utilities index | 83.2 | 143.3 | 72.3% higher in San Bernardino |
| Transportation index | 96.6 | 101.1 | 4.6% higher in San Bernardino |
| Healthcare index | 96.1 | 102.0 | 6.1% higher in San Bernardino |
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 $110,269 in San Bernardino to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Austin, TX is about 9.3% cheaper overall than San Bernardino, CA, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 5% higher in San Bernardino than in Austin. If you earn $80,000 in Austin, you'd need about $88,215 in San Bernardino to keep the same standard of living.