Distances from Des Moines, IA to nearby and major US cities
Drive times and estimated fuel costs from Des Moines, IA to the towns around it and to the major cities most people head for. Pick any row for the full route.
Des Moines, IA sits in Iowa, on Chicago time, at 41.60° north and 93.61° west. The nearest place of any size is Ankeny, IA, about 12 miles away — roughly 24 min of driving. 2 other towns of size are within an hour's drive.
Counting only places above twenty thousand people, 20 are within three hours' driving of Des Moines, IA and 290 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 Omaha, NE, about 143 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 Des Moines, IA
Reachable places are rarely spread evenly around a town, and they are not around Des Moines, IA. Of everything above twenty thousand people within three hours' drive, the largest share — 5 of 20 — lies to the east, with 4 to the west. Only 1 sit to the northwest. 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.
15 of those places are in Iowa and 5 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: Omaha, NE is about 143 miles out, roughly 2 hr 23 min of driving, while Los Angeles, CA is around 1,666 miles — a different order of trip entirely, and one to plan in stages rather than as a day. 6 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 Des Moines, IA, the road safety guides cover the part the mileage leaves out.
Closest cities to Des Moines, IA
- Ankeny, IA 12 mi · 24 min
- Ames, IA 37 mi · 58 min
- Marshalltown, IA 55 mi · 1 hr 6 min
- Fort Dodge, IA 79 mi · 1 hr 35 min
- Ottumwa, IA 86 mi · 1 hr 43 min
- Cedar Falls, IA 102 mi · 2 hr 2 min
- Waterloo, IA 104 mi · 2 hr 5 min
- Coralville, IA 122 mi · 2 hr 2 min
- Cedar Rapids, IA 122 mi · 2 hr 2 min
- Iowa City, IA 125 mi · 2 hr 5 min
Major cities from Des Moines, IA
- Omaha, NE 143 mi · 2 hr 23 min
- Lincoln, NE 195 mi · 3 hr 15 min
- Kansas City, MO 209 mi · 3 hr 29 min
- Chicago, IL 357 mi · 5 hr 57 min
- Tulsa, OK 461 mi · 7 hr 19 min
- Dallas, TX 735 mi · 11 hr 40 min
- Houston, TX 956 mi · 15 hr 10 min
- New York City, NY 1183 mi · 18 hr 46 min
- Brooklyn, NY 1187 mi · 18 hr 50 min
- Los Angeles, CA 1666 mi · 26 hr 26 min