City comparison
San Antonio, TX is about 850 miles (1,300 km) from Scottsdale, AZ 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 San Antonio, TX to Scottsdale, AZ takes about 1 h 40 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.
San Antonio, TX is on Central Time and Scottsdale, AZ is on Mountain Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in San Antonio, it's 11 a.m. in Scottsdale, which puts San Antonio 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 240,537 in Scottsdale — about 6.0× larger by population. By land area, San Antonio covers about 500 sq mi vs 185 sq mi for Scottsdale.
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 | San Antonio | Scottsdale | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,189/mo | $1,768/mo | 48.7% higher in Scottsdale |
| Median home value | $198,000 | $651,800 | 229.2% higher in Scottsdale |
| Median household income | $59,593 | $104,197 | 74.8% higher in Scottsdale |
| Groceries index | 94.2 | 95.8 | 1.7% higher in Scottsdale |
| Utilities index | 83.3 | 96.2 | 15.5% higher in Scottsdale |
| Transportation index | 96.6 | 104.1 | 7.7% higher in Scottsdale |
| Healthcare index | 96.1 | 104.0 | 8.2% higher in Scottsdale |
How much you'd need to earn in the other city to keep the same standard of living.
If you earn $100,000 in San Antonio, you'd need $116,858 in Scottsdale to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
San Antonio, TX is about 14.4% cheaper overall than Scottsdale, AZ, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 30% higher in Scottsdale than in San Antonio. If you earn $80,000 in San Antonio, you'd need about $93,486 in Scottsdale to keep the same standard of living.