City comparison
Des Moines, IA is about 700 miles (1,100 km) from Pittsburgh, PA in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 900 miles, or about 15 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 Des Moines, IA to Pittsburgh, PA takes about 1 h 26 min, covering roughly 700 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.
Des Moines, IA is on Central Time and Pittsburgh, PA is on Eastern Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Des Moines, it's 1 p.m. in Pittsburgh, which puts Des Moines 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.
Pittsburgh has a population of 303,843, vs 213,164 in Des Moines — about 1.4× larger by population. By land area, Des Moines covers about 88 sq mi vs 55 sq mi for Pittsburgh.
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 | Des Moines | Pittsburgh | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $995/mo | $1,153/mo | 15.9% higher in Pittsburgh |
| Median home value | $170,700 | $171,800 | 0.6% higher in Pittsburgh |
| Median household income | $62,378 | $60,187 | 3.6% higher in Des Moines |
| Groceries index | 94.0 | 100.7 | 7.2% higher in Pittsburgh |
| Utilities index | 85.2 | 107.0 | 25.5% higher in Pittsburgh |
| Transportation index | 93.3 | 97.6 | 4.6% higher in Pittsburgh |
| Healthcare index | 93.5 | 98.3 | 5.2% higher in Pittsburgh |
How much you'd need to earn in the other city to keep the same standard of living.
If you earn $100,000 in Des Moines, you'd need $100,079 in Pittsburgh to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Des Moines and Pittsburgh have nearly identical overall cost-of-living indices. Housing costs are roughly 14% higher in Des Moines than in Pittsburgh. If you earn $80,000 in Des Moines, you'd need about $80,063 in Pittsburgh to keep the same standard of living.