Distance Calculator Between Cities for Precise Driving Distances

Efficiently find the distance between cities, including driving distances, estimated travel times, and detailed route maps for any journey in the USA, from cross-country adventures to short drives.

This distance calculator, covering the United States, North America, and worldwide, simplifies your travel planning. Enter your start and end points in the "From" and "To" fields — accepting city names, addresses, or GPS coordinates — and click "Calculate" to get started.

Customize your journey with "Fuel consumption" and "Fuel price" for cost estimates, and use the crosshair icon for map selections. Dive into "Advanced options" to add stops or adjust speeds, tailoring the trip to your pace and ensuring accurate travel time predictions.

Driving Distance Between Two Cities: US Route Examples

Route Planner for Estimating Distance Between Two Points

Check
route for optimality
Save
fuel and travel costs
Calculate
route metrics
Plan
departure and arrival times

Family Vacation Planning: Families planning summer vacations can use the distance calculator to plan their route, estimate fuel costs based on their car's fuel consumption, and calculate budget needs, ensuring a cost-effective and enjoyable journey.

Business Travel Optimization: Professionals can plot the most efficient routes for their business trips, incorporating distance calculations to manage time effectively and budget for travel expenses accurately.

Logistics and Freight Management: Long-haul truckers and freight forwarders can utilize the tool to map out routes between cities, estimate mileage, and calculate transportation costs based on company tariffs, optimizing delivery schedules and pricing.

Meeting Halfway: Friends living in different cities can find a central meeting point by calculating the halfway distance between their locations, making it easier to arrange reunions and share new adventures together.

Explore Functions of the City-to-City Distance Calculator

City distances evolve annually with the construction of new roads, highways, and bridges.

Our online Distance Between Cities Calculator complements your preferred GPS navigator by allowing you to map out your route in advance, while your GPS assists during the drive.

The calculator utilizes OSM data and incorporates key Google Maps functionalities, including:

Exclusive features of our calculator include:

USA, North America, and Worldwide Coverage

138,192 localities covered in United States. 1,971,411 localities worldwide.

This service measures the distance between cities around the world and is available in several languages:

How Driving Distance Is Calculated Between Two Locations

Algorithm for Calculating Driving Distances Between Cities

This route calculation tool harnesses the power of shortest path search algorithms within a weighted road graph, employing sophisticated algorithms like Dijkstra, A-Star, and Contraction Hierarchies. Unlike conventional calculators that use distance or travel time as the graph weight, our system optimizes drive time for vehicles, favoring routes on higher-class roads for a smoother journey.

The backbone of this tool is built on OpenStreetMap data, ensuring our road graphs are accurate and up-to-date. We calculate distances between road segments with the haversine formula, using precise GPS coordinates to measure the Great Circle Distance. This formula is pivotal for calculating "air distance" or "straight line distance" between two points, taking into account the curvature of the Earth.

Road distances, however, diverge from straight line distances due to the natural curvature and layout of roads. To address this, roads are represented as segmented lines, and the haversine formula is applied to each segment, allowing for precise calculation of the journey length between any two points.

Recognizing that cities encompass large areas, our tool selects a central point within each city for distance calculations between cities. For personalized route planning, users can specify exact addresses or select points on the map. Additionally, the route's start and end points can be adjusted directly on the map for enhanced customization.

Travel time calculations break down the route into segments, evaluating the maximum permitted speed for each segment to estimate the fastest possible travel time.

It’s important to note that while our route calculation relies on advanced computer modeling for accuracy, no model is perfect. We encourage users to plan with a margin for adjustment to ensure a reliable and efficient journey.

Alternative Methods for Distance Calculation Between Two Addresses

One simple way to measure distance is by using a highway atlas. By tracing a route with your eye and rolling a curvimeter along it, you can gauge the distance. Estimating travel time involves assuming an average speed of 50 miles/hour on major intercity roads. Although this method provides rough estimates, it's straightforward.

In the absence of a curvimeter, a ruler can serve as a substitute. Start by aligning the ruler's zero mark with your route's beginning and follow the road's bends closely. Then, translate the measured length into kilometers or miles using the map's scale, which is typically provided in the atlas.

For those seeking a more streamlined approach, pre-calculated distance tables specifically for the USA are available on websites, atlases, and guidebooks. Particularly useful for journeys between major cities, these tables streamline planning, although they may omit smaller locales.

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