City comparison
Kettering, OH is about 1,100 miles (1,700 km) from Lubbock, TX in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 1,300 miles, or about 22 hours (about 2 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 Kettering, OH to Lubbock, TX takes about 2 h 8 min, covering roughly 1,100 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.
Kettering, OH is on Central Time and Lubbock, TX is on Mountain Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Kettering, it's 11 a.m. in Lubbock, which puts Kettering 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.
Lubbock has a population of 258,190, vs 57,707 in Kettering — about 4.5× larger by population. By land area, Lubbock covers about 145 sq mi vs 19 sq mi for Kettering.
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 | Kettering | Lubbock | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $942/mo | $1,093/mo | 16.0% higher in Lubbock |
| Median home value | $174,300 | $181,600 | 4.2% higher in Lubbock |
| Median household income | $69,818 | $58,734 | 18.9% higher in Kettering |
| Groceries index | 93.9 | 94.2 | ≈ equal (Lubbock slightly higher) |
| Utilities index | 95.1 | 83.8 | 13.4% higher in Kettering |
| Transportation index | 98.8 | 96.6 | 2.2% higher in Kettering |
| Healthcare index | 99.0 | 96.1 | 3.0% higher in Kettering |
How much you'd need to earn in the other city to keep the same standard of living.
If you earn $100,000 in Kettering, you'd need $100,173 in Lubbock to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Kettering and Lubbock have nearly identical overall cost-of-living indices. Housing costs are roughly 6% higher in Lubbock than in Kettering. If you earn $80,000 in Kettering, you'd need about $80,138 in Lubbock to keep the same standard of living.