City comparison
El Paso, TX is about 500 miles (800 km) from San Antonio, TX in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 600 miles, or about 10 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 San Antonio, TX takes about 1 h, covering roughly 500 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 San Antonio, TX is on Central Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in El Paso, it's 1 p.m. in San Antonio, 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.
San Antonio has a population of 1,445,662, vs 677,181 in El Paso — about 2.1× larger by population. By land area, San Antonio covers about 500 sq mi vs 260 sq mi for El Paso.
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 | San Antonio | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $976/mo | $1,189/mo | 21.8% higher in San Antonio |
| Median home value | $159,300 | $198,000 | 24.3% higher in San Antonio |
| Median household income | $55,710 | $59,593 | 7.0% higher in San Antonio |
| Groceries index | 94.2 | 94.2 | ≈ equal |
| Utilities index | 83.7 | 83.3 | ≈ equal (El Paso slightly higher) |
| Transportation index | 96.6 | 96.6 | ≈ equal |
| Healthcare index | 96.1 | 96.1 | ≈ equal |
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 $111,350 in San Antonio to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
El Paso, TX is about 10.2% cheaper overall than San Antonio, TX, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 32% higher in San Antonio than in El Paso. If you earn $80,000 in El Paso, you'd need about $89,080 in San Antonio to keep the same standard of living.