City comparison
El Paso, TX is about 750 miles (1,200 km) from Manhattan, KS in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 950 miles, or about 16 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 El Paso, TX to Manhattan, KS takes about 1 h 30 min, covering roughly 750 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.
El Paso, TX is on Mountain Time and Manhattan, KS is on Central Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in El Paso, it's 1 p.m. in Manhattan, which puts El Paso 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.
El Paso has a population of 677,181, vs 54,287 in Manhattan — about 12.5× larger by population. By land area, El Paso covers about 260 sq mi vs 20 sq mi for Manhattan.
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 | El Paso | Manhattan | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $976/mo | $977/mo | 0.1% higher in Manhattan |
| Median home value | $159,300 | $242,300 | 52.1% higher in Manhattan |
| Median household income | $55,710 | $55,316 | 0.7% higher in El Paso |
| Groceries index | 94.2 | 94.2 | ≈ equal (Manhattan slightly higher) |
| Utilities index | 83.7 | 88.7 | 6.0% higher in Manhattan |
| Transportation index | 96.6 | 94.1 | 2.7% higher in El Paso |
| Healthcare index | 96.1 | 94.3 | 1.9% higher in El Paso |
How much you'd need to earn in the other city to keep the same standard of living.
If you earn $100,000 in El Paso, you'd need $99,988 in Manhattan to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
El Paso and Manhattan have nearly identical overall cost-of-living indices. If you earn $80,000 in El Paso, you'd need about $79,991 in Manhattan to keep the same standard of living.