City comparison
Reston, VA is about 1,400 miles (2,200 km) from San Antonio, TX in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 1,700 miles, or about 29 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 Reston, VA to San Antonio, TX takes about 2 h 45 min, covering roughly 1,400 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.
Reston, VA is on Eastern Time and San Antonio, TX is on Central Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Reston, it's 11 a.m. in San Antonio, which puts Reston 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.
San Antonio has a population of 1,445,662, vs 62,339 in Reston — about 23.2× larger by population. By land area, San Antonio covers about 500 sq mi vs 15 sq mi for Reston.
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 | Reston | San Antonio | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $2,109/mo | $1,189/mo | 77.4% higher in Reston |
| Median home value | $591,900 | $198,000 | 198.9% higher in Reston |
| Median household income | $135,503 | $59,593 | 127.4% higher in Reston |
| Groceries index | 104.3 | 94.2 | 10.7% higher in Reston |
| Utilities index | 105.6 | 83.3 | 26.8% higher in Reston |
| Transportation index | 102.2 | 96.6 | 5.7% higher in Reston |
| Healthcare index | 101.6 | 96.1 | 5.8% higher in Reston |
How much you'd need to earn in the other city to keep the same standard of living.
If you earn $100,000 in Reston, you'd need $75,828 in San Antonio to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
San Antonio, TX is about 24.2% cheaper overall than Reston, VA, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 61% higher in Reston than in San Antonio. If you earn $80,000 in Reston, you'd need about $60,663 in San Antonio to keep the same standard of living.