City comparison
Federal Way, WA is about 1,900 miles (3,000 km) from Houston, TX in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 2,300 miles, or about 39 hours (about 4 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 Federal Way, WA to Houston, TX takes about 3 h 45 min, covering roughly 1,900 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.
Federal Way, WA is on Pacific Time and Houston, TX is on Central Time — a 2-hour difference. When it's noon in Federal Way, it's 2 p.m. in Houston, which puts Federal Way 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 99,614 in Federal Way — about 23.1× larger by population. By land area, Houston covers about 640 sq mi vs 22 sq mi for Federal Way.
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 | Federal Way | Houston | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,660/mo | $1,235/mo | 34.4% higher in Federal Way |
| Median home value | $454,300 | $235,000 | 93.3% higher in Federal Way |
| Median household income | $80,360 | $60,440 | 33.0% higher in Federal Way |
| Groceries index | 104.0 | 100.4 | 3.6% higher in Federal Way |
| Utilities index | 95.7 | 96.3 | 0.6% higher in Houston |
| Transportation index | 106.6 | 95.8 | 11.4% higher in Federal Way |
| Healthcare index | 106.6 | 95.2 | 12.0% higher in Federal Way |
How much you'd need to earn in the other city to keep the same standard of living.
If you earn $100,000 in Federal Way, you'd need $81,036 in Houston to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Houston, TX is about 19% cheaper overall than Federal Way, WA, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 44% higher in Federal Way than in Houston. If you earn $80,000 in Federal Way, you'd need about $64,829 in Houston to keep the same standard of living.