City comparison
Houston, TX is about 1,600 miles (2,600 km) from Newark, CA in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 2,000 miles, or about 34 hours (about 3 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 Houston, TX to Newark, CA takes about 3 h 14 min, covering roughly 1,600 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.
Houston, TX is on Central Time and Newark, CA is on Pacific Time — a 2-hour difference. When it's noon in Houston, it's 10 a.m. in Newark, which puts Houston 2 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.
Houston has a population of 2,296,253, vs 47,470 in Newark — about 48.4× larger by population. By land area, Houston covers about 640 sq mi vs 14 sq mi for Newark.
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 | Houston | Newark | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,235/mo | $2,644/mo | 114.1% higher in Newark |
| Median home value | $235,000 | $1,034,900 | 340.4% higher in Newark |
| Median household income | $60,440 | $159,465 | 163.8% higher in Newark |
| Groceries index | 100.4 | 108.1 | 7.7% higher in Newark |
| Utilities index | 96.3 | 168.3 | 74.8% higher in Newark |
| Transportation index | 95.8 | 106.1 | 10.8% higher in Newark |
| Healthcare index | 95.2 | 106.0 | 11.4% higher in Newark |
How much you'd need to earn in the other city to keep the same standard of living.
If you earn $100,000 in Houston, you'd need $150,085 in Newark to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Houston, TX is about 33.4% cheaper overall than Newark, CA, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 89% higher in Newark than in Houston. If you earn $80,000 in Houston, you'd need about $120,068 in Newark to keep the same standard of living.