City comparison
Houston, TX is about 1,600 miles (2,600 km) from Waltham, MA in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 2,000 miles, or about 33 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 Waltham, MA takes about 3 h 12 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 Waltham, MA is on Eastern Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Houston, it's 1 p.m. in Waltham, which puts Houston 1 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 64,711 in Waltham — about 35.5× larger by population. By land area, Houston covers about 640 sq mi vs 13 sq mi for Waltham.
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 | Waltham | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,235/mo | $2,141/mo | 73.4% higher in Waltham |
| Median home value | $235,000 | $679,000 | 188.9% higher in Waltham |
| Median household income | $60,440 | $113,443 | 87.7% higher in Waltham |
| Groceries index | 100.4 | 99.8 | 0.6% higher in Houston |
| Utilities index | 96.3 | 144.3 | 49.9% higher in Waltham |
| Transportation index | 95.8 | 102.9 | 7.5% higher in Waltham |
| Healthcare index | 95.2 | 103.7 | 9.0% higher in Waltham |
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 $126,283 in Waltham to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Houston, TX is about 20.8% cheaper overall than Waltham, MA, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 45% higher in Waltham than in Houston. If you earn $80,000 in Houston, you'd need about $101,027 in Waltham to keep the same standard of living.