City comparison
Austin, TX is about 600 miles (950 km) from Santa Fe, NM in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 750 miles, or about 13 hours 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 Santa Fe, NM takes about 1 h 12 min, covering roughly 600 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 Santa Fe, NM is on Mountain Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Austin, it's 11 a.m. in Santa Fe, 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 87,617 in Santa Fe — about 10.9× larger by population. By land area, Austin covers about 325 sq mi vs 52 sq mi for Santa Fe.
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 | Santa Fe | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,549/mo | $1,314/mo | 17.9% higher in Austin |
| Median home value | $461,500 | $370,600 | 24.5% higher in Austin |
| Median household income | $86,556 | $67,663 | 27.9% higher in Austin |
| Groceries index | 94.2 | 96.9 | 2.8% higher in Santa Fe |
| Utilities index | 83.2 | 81.1 | 2.6% higher in Austin |
| Transportation index | 96.6 | 99.1 | 2.5% higher in Santa Fe |
| Healthcare index | 96.1 | 99.0 | 3.0% higher in Santa Fe |
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 $95,831 in Santa Fe to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Santa Fe, NM is about 4.2% cheaper overall than Austin, TX, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 12% higher in Austin than in Santa Fe. If you earn $80,000 in Austin, you'd need about $76,665 in Santa Fe to keep the same standard of living.