Distances from El Cajon, CA to nearby cities and major US destinations
Drive times and estimated fuel costs from El Cajon, CA to the towns around it and to the major cities most people head for. Pick any row for the full route.
El Cajon, CA sits in California, on Los Angeles time, at 32.79° north and 116.96° west. The nearest place of any size is National City, CA, about 15 miles away — roughly 24 min of driving. 12 other towns of size are within an hour's drive.
Counting only places above twenty thousand people, 184 are within three hours' driving of El Cajon, CA and 254 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 Chula Vista, CA, about 17 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 El Cajon, CA
Reachable places are rarely spread evenly around a town, and they are not around El Cajon, CA. Of everything above twenty thousand people within three hours' drive, the largest share — 130 of 184 — lies to the northwest, with 37 to the north. Only 5 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.
181 of those places are in California and 3 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: Chula Vista, CA is about 17 miles out, roughly 28 min of driving, while Queens, NY is around 2,812 miles — a different order of trip entirely, and one to plan in stages rather than as a day. 1 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 El Cajon, CA, the road safety guides cover the part the mileage leaves out.
Closest cities to El Cajon, CA
Major cities from El Cajon, CA
- Chula Vista, CA 17 mi · 28 min
- Los Angeles, CA 132 mi · 2 hr 12 min
- Phoenix, AZ 332 mi · 5 hr 32 min
- Houston, TX 1497 mi · 23 hr 45 min
- Chicago, IL 1992 mi · 31 hr 37 min
- Philadelphia, PA 2732 mi · 43 hr 22 min
- New York City, NY 2801 mi · 44 hr 28 min
- Manhattan, NY 2804 mi · 44 hr 30 min
- Brooklyn, NY 2805 mi · 44 hr 31 min
- Queens, NY 2812 mi · 44 hr 38 min