City comparison
Grand Island, NE is about 550 miles (850 km) from Minot, ND in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 650 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 Grand Island, NE to Minot, ND takes about 1 h 3 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.
Grand Island, NE is on Central Time and Minot, ND is on Mountain Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Grand Island, it's 11 a.m. in Minot, which puts Grand Island 1 hours ahead.
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.
Grand Island has a population of 52,822, vs 48,038 in Minot — about the same size. By land area, Grand Island covers about 30 sq mi vs 28 sq mi for Minot.
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 | Grand Island | Minot | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $886/mo | $937/mo | 5.8% higher in Minot |
| Median home value | $183,700 | $241,900 | 31.7% higher in Minot |
| Median household income | $59,061 | $75,545 | 27.9% higher in Minot |
| Groceries index | 94.3 | 95.8 | 1.5% higher in Minot |
| Utilities index | 75.8 | 74.6 | 1.6% higher in Grand Island |
| Transportation index | 93.3 | 91.7 | 1.8% higher in Grand Island |
| Healthcare index | 93.5 | 91.9 | 1.8% higher in Grand Island |
How much you'd need to earn in the other city to keep the same standard of living.
If you earn $100,000 in Grand Island, you'd need $100,406 in Minot to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Grand Island and Minot have nearly identical overall cost-of-living indices. If you earn $80,000 in Grand Island, you'd need about $80,325 in Minot to keep the same standard of living.