City comparison
Austin, TX is about 1,600 miles (2,600 km) from Springfield, MA in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 2,000 miles, or about 34 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 Springfield, MA takes about 3 h 14 min, covering roughly 1,600 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 Springfield, MA is on Eastern Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Austin, it's 1 p.m. in Springfield, which puts Austin 1 hours behind.
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 155,305 in Springfield — about 6.2× larger by population. By land area, Austin covers about 325 sq mi vs 32 sq mi for Springfield.
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 | Springfield | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,549/mo | $1,047/mo | 47.9% higher in Austin |
| Median home value | $461,500 | $198,500 | 132.5% higher in Austin |
| Median household income | $86,556 | $47,677 | 81.5% higher in Austin |
| Groceries index | 94.2 | 97.4 | 3.4% higher in Springfield |
| Utilities index | 83.2 | 150.0 | 80.3% higher in Springfield |
| Transportation index | 96.6 | 100.7 | 4.2% higher in Springfield |
| Healthcare index | 96.1 | 101.5 | 5.6% higher in Springfield |
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 $89,816 in Springfield to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Springfield, MA is about 10.2% cheaper overall than Austin, TX, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 58% higher in Austin than in Springfield. If you earn $80,000 in Austin, you'd need about $71,853 in Springfield to keep the same standard of living.