Distances from Kansas City, MO to nearby and major US cities
Drive times and estimated fuel costs from Kansas City, MO to the towns around it and to the major cities most people head for. Pick any row for the full route.
Kansas City, MO sits in Missouri, on Chicago time, at 39.10° north and 94.58° west. The nearest place of any size is East Independence, MO, about 16 miles away — roughly 26 min of driving. 12 other towns of size are within an hour's drive.
Counting only places above twenty thousand people, 23 are within three hours' driving of Kansas City, MO and 134 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 Lincoln, NE, about 187 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 Kansas City, MO
Reachable places are rarely spread evenly around a town, and they are not around Kansas City, MO. Of everything above twenty thousand people within three hours' drive, the largest share — 5 of 23 — lies to the east, with 5 to the south. Only 1 sit to the northeast. 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.
13 of those places are in Missouri and 10 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: Lincoln, NE is about 187 miles out, roughly 3 hr 7 min of driving, while Denver, CO is around 646 miles — a different order of trip entirely, and one to plan in stages rather than as a day. All 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 Kansas City, MO, the road safety guides cover the part the mileage leaves out.
Closest cities to Kansas City, MO
Major cities from Kansas City, MO
- Lincoln, NE 187 mi · 3 hr 7 min
- Des Moines, IA 209 mi · 3 hr 29 min
- Tulsa, OK 253 mi · 4 hr 13 min
- St. Louis, MO 276 mi · 4 hr 36 min
- Minneapolis, MN 478 mi · 7 hr 35 min
- Indianapolis, IN 524 mi · 8 hr 19 min
- Arlington, TX 536 mi · 8 hr 30 min
- Nashville, TN 547 mi · 8 hr 41 min
- Louisville, KY 556 mi · 8 hr 49 min
- Denver, CO 646 mi · 10 hr 15 min