Distance Between Two Cities

By Marko Visic · Updated Oct 7, 2026

Search, click the map, or use GPS to calculate the distance between any two US cities. Shows miles, km, population comparison, and estimated driving distance.

Definition

What is city-to-city distance?

The straight-line distance between the geometric centroids of two US cities. Calculated using the Haversine great-circle formula — the shortest path over Earth's curved surface.

Coverage

How many cities?

About 27,722 US postal cities are searchable — USPS postal-city names aggregated from ZIP codes, with populations summed from their ZIPs. Autocomplete sorts by population so major cities appear first.

Interaction

Three ways to search

Type city names with autocomplete, click the map to auto-detect the nearest city, or use GPS with "Use my location" First input sets origin, second sets destination.

Cost

Is this free?

Yes — no sign-up, no API key. All 27,722 cities are pre-loaded in your browser for instant results. Works offline after the initial page load.

From city

To city

Click the map to set start — nearest city will be detected.

Search for two cities, click the map, or use GPS to get started.

How to use the city distance calculator

Search, click, or use GPS for the first city

Type a city name — autocomplete shows matches sorted by population. Or click the map to detect the nearest city (green marker). Or tap "Use my location" for GPS-based detection.

Set the second city the same way

The second action (search, click, or GPS) sets the destination (red marker). Use the swap button to reverse direction at any time.

Read the results

Results appear instantly: straight-line distance in miles and km, estimated driving distance, bearing, and a side-by-side comparison of both cities with population, county, state, and coordinates.

Popular city-to-city distances

Straight-line distances between major US city pairs. Driving distance and time are estimates (1.3× straight-line at 55 mph average).

From	To	Straight-line	Est. drive	Est. time
New York, NY	Los Angeles, CA	2,451 mi	~3,186 mi	~58h
Chicago, IL	Houston, TX	940 mi	~1,223 mi	~22h
New York, NY	Chicago, IL	715 mi	~929 mi	~17h
Los Angeles, CA	San Francisco, CA	346 mi	~450 mi	~8h
Miami, FL	Atlanta, GA	607 mi	~789 mi	~14h
Dallas, TX	Houston, TX	224 mi	~291 mi	~5h
Boston, MA	New York, NY	185 mi	~240 mi	~4h
Seattle, WA	Portland, OR	146 mi	~190 mi	~3h
Denver, CO	Phoenix, AZ	583 mi	~758 mi	~14h
Washington, DC	New York, NY	207 mi	~269 mi	~5h
San Francisco, CA	Seattle, WA	680 mi	~885 mi	~16h
Philadelphia, PA	New York, NY	82 mi	~106 mi	~2h

EXAMPLE

New York to Los Angeles: The straight-line distance is 2,451 miles. Our 1.3× estimate gives ~3,186 miles, a rough allowance for detours and urban routing.

What people use city distance for

Road trip planning

Get a quick estimate before mapping a detailed route. The straight-line distance gives a lower bound; multiply by 1.3 for a rough driving estimate. Compare multiple destination cities to find the closest option for a weekend trip.

Relocation research

When considering a move, compare distances from your current city to multiple candidates. The population comparison helps understand the size difference — moving from Houston (3.2M) to Austin (1.1M) is a significant lifestyle change beyond just the 146-mile straight-line gap.

Geography education and trivia

Answer questions like "Is Denver closer to Phoenix or Dallas?" (Phoenix: 583 mi vs Dallas: 663 mi). Great for geography classes, quiz bowls, and dinner-table debates.

Sales territory and travel planning

Sales teams use city distances to plan travel routes, estimate reimbursement, and optimize visit schedules. The bearing tells you which direction to head — useful when planning multi-city trips.

Shipping and logistics estimates

Estimate shipping costs between metro areas before getting a formal carrier quote. For ZIP-level precision, use our Distance Between ZIP Codes tool.

Long-distance relationship planning

Know exactly how far apart you are, estimate travel times, and find the halfway point for meeting in the middle.

How the distance is calculated

Each of the 27,722 cities has a geometric centroid — the geometric center of its Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTAs), a purely geographic average of the area rather than a point weighted by where residents live.

The tool computes the Haversine great-circle distance between the two centroids. This is the shortest possible path over Earth's curved surface — the same formula used in aviation and marine navigation.

Why not driving distance? Driving distance requires a routing engine and real-time road data. For actual drive time analysis, use our Drive Time Map, which follows real roads using the Valhalla routing engine and OpenStreetMap data.

Related tools

Distance Between ZIP Codes — search by ZIP code for finer geographic precision
Distance Between Two Places — worldwide distance calculator for any location on Earth
Multi-Stop Route Distance — total trip mileage across up to 25 city stops with optional best-order optimization
Distance Matrix Calculator — full N×N pairwise distance matrix between many cities, with CSV export
Find Cities in Radius — list all cities within a given distance
Drive Time Map — see actual drive time coverage following real roads
Halfway Between Two Places — find the midpoint for meeting in the middle
Population Within Radius — total population and demographics within any radius
Map Radius Tool — draw a radius circle on the map

Glossary

Geometric centroid: The geometric center of a city's Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTAs) — a purely geographic average of the area, not weighted by where people live.
Great-circle distance: The shortest path between two points on a sphere, following the surface. Always shorter than driving distance.
Haversine formula: The trigonometric formula used to compute great-circle distance. Standard in navigation, aviation, and GIS.
Bearing: Compass direction from one city to another, in degrees clockwise from north. 0° = N, 90° = E, 180° = S, 270° = W.
Straight-line distance: "As the crow flies" — the shortest possible distance, ignoring roads, terrain, and obstacles.
Driving distance: The distance following actual roads. Always longer than straight-line. Estimated here as 1.3× straight-line.

Data sources
ZIP code data: SimpleMaps US Zip Codes Database v1.95.1 (8 Jul 2026), free version under CC BY 4.0. Population: American Community Survey 2024 5-year estimates. Coordinates are the geometric centroids of Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (2010 ZCTA boundaries). The roughly 27,722 cities are USPS postal-city names aggregated from this ZIP code data, with each city’s population summed from its ZIP codes. Map tiles: OpenFreeMap. Distance: haversine great-circle on a sphere (R = 3,958.8 mi / 6,371 km), typically within about 0.5% of the WGS84 ellipsoidal distance.

Frequently asked questions

Type both city names in the search fields above, click two points on the map, or use "Use my location" for GPS. The tool instantly shows straight-line distance, estimated driving distance, and a comparison of both cities.

The Haversine great-circle formula computes the shortest distance between the geometric centroids of both cities. This is the "as the crow flies" distance — not driving distance.

Straight-line distance multiplied by 1.3. This is a widely-used approximation. Actual driving varies: flat terrain with highways might be 1.2×, mountainous terrain with winding roads might be 1.5×.

About 27,722 US postal cities — USPS postal-city names aggregated from ZIP codes, with each city's population summed from the ZIP codes that share its name. All are searchable by autocomplete.

Yes. First click sets the origin (green pin) by finding the nearest city. Second click sets the destination (red pin). Pins appear immediately on click.

Google Maps shows driving distance along roads. This tool shows straight-line distance. A 200-mile straight-line might be 260 miles driving on flat terrain, or 340 miles through mountains.

This tool covers US cities only. For worldwide distance, use our Distance Between Two Places tool which accepts any location on Earth.

The autocomplete shows state abbreviation and population next to each match (e.g., "Portland, OR" vs "Portland, ME"). Select the correct one from the dropdown.

Population is aggregated from US Census Bureau ZIP code data via SimpleMaps. Coordinates are the geometric centroids of the Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTAs).

The farthest two cities in the contiguous US are approximately 2,732 miles apart (e.g., Miami, FL to Seattle, WA). Including Alaska, Utqiagvik (formerly Barrow), AK to Key West, FL is about 4,286 miles.

The estimate assumes 55 mph average over the estimated driving distance. This is rough — highway trips average 60-65 mph, urban trips average 25-35 mph. For accurate drive time, use our Drive Time Map.

Yes — completely free, no sign-up, no API key. All city data is pre-loaded in your browser for instant results.

This tool searches US cities by name with autocomplete and shows population/county data. The Distance Between Two Places tool works worldwide and accepts any point — addresses, landmarks, or coordinates.

Yes — use our Find Cities in Radius tool. Set a center point and radius, and it lists all cities within that distance with population data.