City comparison
El Paso, TX is about 550 miles (850 km) from Waco, TX in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 700 miles, or about 11 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 Waco, TX takes about 1 h 5 min, covering roughly 550 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 Waco, TX is on Central Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in El Paso, it's 1 p.m. in Waco, 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 140,545 in Waco — about 4.8× larger by population. By land area, El Paso covers about 260 sq mi vs 91 sq mi for Waco.
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 | Waco | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $976/mo | $1,038/mo | 6.4% higher in Waco |
| Median home value | $159,300 | $174,100 | 9.3% higher in Waco |
| Median household income | $55,710 | $47,421 | 17.5% higher in El Paso |
| Groceries index | 94.2 | 94.2 | ≈ equal |
| Utilities index | 83.7 | 82.2 | 1.8% higher in El Paso |
| 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 $105,657 in Waco to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
El Paso, TX is about 5.4% cheaper overall than Waco, TX, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 16% higher in Waco than in El Paso. If you earn $80,000 in El Paso, you'd need about $84,526 in Waco to keep the same standard of living.