City comparison
Austin, TX is about 1,800 miles (2,800 km) from Seattle, WA in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 2,200 miles, or about 37 hours (about 4 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 Seattle, WA takes about 3 h 32 min, covering roughly 1,800 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 Seattle, WA is on Pacific Time — a 2-hour difference. When it's noon in Austin, it's 10 a.m. in Seattle, 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 734,603 in Seattle — about 1.3× larger by population. By land area, Austin covers about 325 sq mi vs 84 sq mi for Seattle.
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 | Seattle | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,549/mo | $1,945/mo | 25.6% higher in Seattle |
| Median home value | $461,500 | $879,900 | 90.7% higher in Seattle |
| Median household income | $86,556 | $116,068 | 34.1% higher in Seattle |
| Groceries index | 94.2 | 103.0 | 9.4% higher in Seattle |
| Utilities index | 83.2 | 92.5 | 11.2% higher in Seattle |
| Transportation index | 96.6 | 108.1 | 11.8% higher in Seattle |
| Healthcare index | 96.1 | 108.8 | 13.2% higher in Seattle |
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 $118,283 in Seattle to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Austin, TX is about 15.5% cheaper overall than Seattle, WA, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 26% higher in Seattle than in Austin. If you earn $80,000 in Austin, you'd need about $94,626 in Seattle to keep the same standard of living.