City comparison
Davis, CA is about 1,600 miles (2,600 km) from Houston, TX 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 Davis, CA to Houston, TX 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.
Davis, CA is on Pacific Time and Houston, TX is on Central Time — a 2-hour difference. When it's noon in Davis, it's 2 p.m. in Houston, which puts Davis 2 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.
Houston has a population of 2,296,253, vs 67,203 in Davis — about 34.2× larger by population. By land area, Houston covers about 640 sq mi vs 10 sq mi for Davis.
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 | Davis | Houston | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,927/mo | $1,235/mo | 56.0% higher in Davis |
| Median home value | $803,100 | $235,000 | 241.7% higher in Davis |
| Median household income | $83,592 | $60,440 | 38.3% higher in Davis |
| Groceries index | 105.1 | 100.4 | 4.7% higher in Davis |
| Utilities index | 148.9 | 96.3 | 54.7% higher in Davis |
| Transportation index | 100.7 | 95.8 | 5.1% higher in Davis |
| Healthcare index | 100.6 | 95.2 | 5.7% higher in Davis |
How much you'd need to earn in the other city to keep the same standard of living.
If you earn $100,000 in Davis, you'd need $83,949 in Houston to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Houston, TX is about 16.1% cheaper overall than Davis, CA, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 27% higher in Davis than in Houston. If you earn $80,000 in Davis, you'd need about $67,159 in Houston to keep the same standard of living.