City comparison
Monroe, LA is about 850 miles (1,300 km) from Wilson, NC in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 1,000 miles, or about 17 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 Monroe, LA to Wilson, NC takes about 1 h 41 min, covering roughly 850 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.
Monroe, LA is on Central Time and Wilson, NC is on Eastern Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Monroe, it's 1 p.m. in Wilson, which puts Monroe 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.
Wilson has a population of 47,767, vs 47,631 in Monroe — about the same size. By land area, Wilson covers about 32 sq mi vs 30 sq mi for Monroe.
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 | Monroe | Wilson | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $790/mo | $864/mo | 9.4% higher in Wilson |
| Median home value | $158,200 | $167,400 | 5.8% higher in Wilson |
| Median household income | $36,550 | $46,891 | 28.3% higher in Wilson |
| Groceries index | 94.1 | 96.8 | 2.8% higher in Wilson |
| Utilities index | 74.3 | 89.0 | 19.8% higher in Wilson |
| Transportation index | 96.1 | 98.4 | 2.4% higher in Wilson |
| Healthcare index | 95.6 | 97.9 | 2.4% higher in Wilson |
How much you'd need to earn in the other city to keep the same standard of living.
If you earn $100,000 in Monroe, you'd need $110,880 in Wilson to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Monroe, LA is about 9.8% cheaper overall than Wilson, NC, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 28% higher in Wilson than in Monroe. If you earn $80,000 in Monroe, you'd need about $88,704 in Wilson to keep the same standard of living.