Distances from Abilene, TX to nearby cities and major US destinations
Drive times and estimated fuel costs from Abilene, TX to the towns around it and to the major cities most people head for. Pick any row for the full route.
Abilene, TX sits in Texas, on Chicago time, at 32.45° north and 99.73° west. The nearest place of any size is San Angelo, TX, about 92 miles away — roughly 1 hr 51 min of driving.
Counting only places above twenty thousand people, 26 are within three hours' driving of Abilene, TX and 125 within six — which is a better measure of how connected a town is than its position on a map. The nearest city of real size is Fort Worth, TX, about 164 miles out.
The two lists below answer different questions. The first is what is physically close, which is what you want for an errand or a day out. The second is the major cities people actually drive to from here, which is usually a longer trip and a different kind of plan. Every figure is an estimated road distance rather than a routed one, and every drive time assumes free-flowing traffic with no allowance for a stop — how the estimate works. For a pair that is not listed here, the calculator will work out any two US cities.
Which way the driving goes from Abilene, TX
Reachable places are rarely spread evenly around a town, and they are not around Abilene, TX. Of everything above twenty thousand people within three hours' drive, the largest share — 17 of 26 — lies to the east, with 4 to the southeast. Only 1 sit to the southwest. That asymmetry is usually geography rather than road building: coastline, a state line, mountains or simply empty country in one direction and settlement in another.
26 of those places are in Texas and 0 are across a state line, which matters more than the mileage does. Speed limits, phone rules and what you may do at a red light are all set state by state, so a drive of the same length can be governed by two sets of rules or by one. The state-by-state differences are set out separately.
The major-city list below spans a wide range: Arlington, TX is about 179 miles out, roughly 2 hr 59 min of driving, while Queens, NY is around 1,785 miles — a different order of trip entirely, and one to plan in stages rather than as a day. 2 of the 10 routes below have a page of their own, with the towns along the way and how flying compares.
One thing none of these figures account for: the distance is the same in both directions but the drive often is not. A route that climbs on the way out descends on the way back, rush hour is in one direction in the morning and the other in the evening, and a mountain pass can be open one way and closed the other in winter. The estimate here is symmetrical because the road is; the day is not. For a long haul out of Abilene, TX, the road safety guides cover the part the mileage leaves out.
Closest cities to Abilene, TX
- San Angelo, TX 92 mi · 1 hr 51 min
- Stephenville, TX 105 mi · 2 hr 6 min
- Big Spring, TX 119 mi · 2 hr 23 min
- Weatherford, TX 133 mi · 2 hr 13 min
- Wichita Falls, TX 144 mi · 2 hr 24 min
- Benbrook, TX 155 mi · 2 hr 35 min
- Cleburne, TX 159 mi · 2 hr 39 min
- Midland, TX 163 mi · 2 hr 43 min
- Saginaw, TX 163 mi · 2 hr 43 min
- Burleson, TX 163 mi · 2 hr 43 min
Major cities from Abilene, TX
- Arlington, TX 179 mi · 2 hr 59 min
- Austin, TX 222 mi · 3 hr 42 min
- Houston, TX 369 mi · 6 hr 9 min
- Phoenix, AZ 833 mi · 13 hr 14 min
- Chicago, IL 1077 mi · 17 hr 5 min
- Los Angeles, CA 1246 mi · 19 hr 46 min
- Philadelphia, PA 1692 mi · 26 hr 52 min
- New York City, NY 1775 mi · 28 hr 11 min
- Brooklyn, NY 1777 mi · 28 hr 13 min
- Queens, NY 1785 mi · 28 hr 20 min