City comparison
Surprise, AZ is about 2,000 miles (3,200 km) from Towson, MD in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 2,500 miles, or about 42 hours (about 4 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 Surprise, AZ to Towson, MD takes about 4 h 2 min, covering roughly 2,000 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.
Surprise, AZ is on Mountain Time and Towson, MD is on Eastern Time — a 2-hour difference. When it's noon in Surprise, it's 2 p.m. in Towson, which puts Surprise 2 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.
Surprise has a population of 145,591, vs 57,617 in Towson — about 2.5× larger by population. By land area, Surprise covers about 110 sq mi vs 14 sq mi for Towson.
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 | Surprise | Towson | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,822/mo | $1,695/mo | 7.5% higher in Surprise |
| Median home value | $352,600 | $408,100 | 15.7% higher in Towson |
| Median household income | $87,756 | $98,425 | 12.2% higher in Towson |
| Groceries index | 95.8 | 102.0 | 6.4% higher in Towson |
| Utilities index | 96.2 | 108.8 | 13.1% higher in Towson |
| Transportation index | 104.1 | 101.4 | 2.6% higher in Surprise |
| Healthcare index | 104.0 | 100.9 | 3.1% higher in Surprise |
How much you'd need to earn in the other city to keep the same standard of living.
If you earn $100,000 in Surprise, you'd need $99,737 in Towson to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Surprise and Towson have nearly identical overall cost-of-living indices. Housing costs are roughly 3% higher in Surprise than in Towson. If you earn $80,000 in Surprise, you'd need about $79,789 in Towson to keep the same standard of living.