City comparison
Houston, TX is about 750 miles (1,200 km) from Santa Fe, NM in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 900 miles, or about 15 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 Houston, TX to Santa Fe, NM takes about 1 h 28 min, covering roughly 750 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 Santa Fe, NM is on Mountain Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Houston, it's 11 a.m. in Santa Fe, which puts Houston 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.
Houston has a population of 2,296,253, vs 87,617 in Santa Fe — about 26.2× larger by population. By land area, Houston covers about 640 sq mi vs 52 sq mi for Santa Fe.
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 | Santa Fe | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,235/mo | $1,314/mo | 6.4% higher in Santa Fe |
| Median home value | $235,000 | $370,600 | 57.7% higher in Santa Fe |
| Median household income | $60,440 | $67,663 | 12.0% higher in Santa Fe |
| Groceries index | 100.4 | 96.9 | 3.6% higher in Houston |
| Utilities index | 96.3 | 81.1 | 18.8% higher in Houston |
| Transportation index | 95.8 | 99.1 | 3.5% higher in Santa Fe |
| Healthcare index | 95.2 | 99.0 | 4.1% higher in Santa Fe |
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 $100,740 in Santa Fe to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Houston, TX is about 0.7% cheaper overall than Santa Fe, NM, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 4% higher in Santa Fe than in Houston. If you earn $80,000 in Houston, you'd need about $80,592 in Santa Fe to keep the same standard of living.