City comparison
Binghamton, NY is about 900 miles (1,500 km) from Des Moines, IA in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 1,100 miles, or about 19 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 Binghamton, NY to Des Moines, IA takes about 1 h 49 min, covering roughly 900 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.
Binghamton, NY is on Eastern Time and Des Moines, IA is on Central Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Binghamton, it's 11 a.m. in Des Moines, which puts Binghamton 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.
Des Moines has a population of 213,164, vs 47,617 in Binghamton — about 4.5× larger by population. By land area, Des Moines covers about 88 sq mi vs 10 sq mi for Binghamton.
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 | Binghamton | Des Moines | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $805/mo | $995/mo | 23.6% higher in Des Moines |
| Median home value | $117,400 | $170,700 | 45.4% higher in Des Moines |
| Median household income | $42,031 | $62,378 | 48.4% higher in Des Moines |
| Groceries index | 99.8 | 94.0 | 6.2% higher in Binghamton |
| Utilities index | 128.7 | 85.2 | 51.0% higher in Binghamton |
| Transportation index | 97.6 | 93.3 | 4.6% higher in Binghamton |
| Healthcare index | 98.4 | 93.5 | 5.2% higher in Binghamton |
How much you'd need to earn in the other city to keep the same standard of living.
If you earn $100,000 in Binghamton, you'd need $100,056 in Des Moines to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Binghamton and Des Moines have nearly identical overall cost-of-living indices. Housing costs are roughly 22% higher in Des Moines than in Binghamton. If you earn $80,000 in Binghamton, you'd need about $80,045 in Des Moines to keep the same standard of living.