City comparison
Billings, MT is about 1,100 miles (1,800 km) from West Lafayette, IN in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 1,400 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 Billings, MT to West Lafayette, IN takes about 2 h 18 min, covering roughly 1,100 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.
Billings, MT is on Mountain Time and West Lafayette, IN is on Central Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Billings, it's 1 p.m. in West Lafayette, which puts Billings 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.
Billings has a population of 117,093, vs 44,861 in West Lafayette — about 2.6× larger by population. By land area, Billings covers about 46 sq mi vs 14 sq mi for West Lafayette.
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 | Billings | West Lafayette | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,064/mo | $1,056/mo | 0.8% higher in Billings |
| Median home value | $285,300 | $303,300 | 6.3% higher in West Lafayette |
| Median household income | $69,692 | $30,317 | 129.9% higher in Billings |
| Groceries index | 96.7 | 94.5 | 2.4% higher in Billings |
| Utilities index | 77.2 | 86.9 | 12.6% higher in West Lafayette |
| Transportation index | 99.3 | 98.9 | ≈ equal (Billings slightly higher) |
| Healthcare index | 99.2 | 99.1 | ≈ equal (Billings slightly higher) |
How much you'd need to earn in the other city to keep the same standard of living.
If you earn $100,000 in Billings, you'd need $100,057 in West Lafayette to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Billings and West Lafayette have nearly identical overall cost-of-living indices. If you earn $80,000 in Billings, you'd need about $80,046 in West Lafayette to keep the same standard of living.