City comparison
Houston, TX is about 1,900 miles (3,000 km) from Tacoma, WA 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 Houston, TX to Tacoma, WA takes about 3 h 46 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.
Houston, TX is on Central Time and Tacoma, WA is on Pacific Time — a 2-hour difference. When it's noon in Houston, it's 10 a.m. in Tacoma, 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 219,234 in Tacoma — about 10.5× larger by population. By land area, Houston covers about 640 sq mi vs 50 sq mi for Tacoma.
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 | Tacoma | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,235/mo | $1,489/mo | 20.6% higher in Tacoma |
| Median home value | $235,000 | $415,300 | 76.7% higher in Tacoma |
| Median household income | $60,440 | $79,085 | 30.8% higher in Tacoma |
| Groceries index | 100.4 | 103.0 | 2.6% higher in Tacoma |
| Utilities index | 96.3 | 92.5 | 4.1% higher in Houston |
| Transportation index | 95.8 | 108.1 | 12.9% higher in Tacoma |
| Healthcare index | 95.2 | 108.8 | 14.3% higher in Tacoma |
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 $122,971 in Tacoma to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Houston, TX is about 18.7% cheaper overall than Tacoma, WA, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 43% higher in Tacoma than in Houston. If you earn $80,000 in Houston, you'd need about $98,377 in Tacoma to keep the same standard of living.