Distances from La Crosse, WI to nearby and major US cities
Drive times and estimated fuel costs from La Crosse, WI to the towns around it and to the major cities most people head for. Pick any row for the full route.
La Crosse, WI sits in Wisconsin, on Chicago time, at 43.80° north and 91.24° west. The nearest place of any size is Winona, MN, about 32 miles away — roughly 51 min of driving. One other town of size is within an hour's drive.
Counting only places above twenty thousand people, 82 are within three hours' driving of La Crosse, WI and 250 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 Saint Paul, MN, about 140 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 La Crosse, WI
Reachable places are rarely spread evenly around a town, and they are not around La Crosse, WI. Of everything above twenty thousand people within three hours' drive, the largest share — 49 of 82 — lies to the northwest, with 9 to the southeast. Only 1 sit to the north. 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.
14 of those places are in Wisconsin and 68 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: Chicago, IL is about 263 miles out, roughly 4 hr 23 min of driving, while Los Angeles, CA is around 1,845 miles — a different order of trip entirely, and one to plan in stages rather than as a day.
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 La Crosse, WI, the road safety guides cover the part the mileage leaves out.
Closest cities to La Crosse, WI
- Winona, MN 32 mi · 51 min
- Rochester, MN 73 mi · 1 hr 28 min
- Eau Claire, WI 82 mi · 1 hr 39 min
- Austin, MN 101 mi · 2 hr 1 min
- Dubuque, IA 110 mi · 2 hr 11 min
- Stevens Point, WI 112 mi · 2 hr 14 min
- Owatonna, MN 117 mi · 2 hr 20 min
- Hastings, MN 119 mi · 2 hr 23 min
- Madison, WI 122 mi · 2 hr 2 min
- Northfield, MN 122 mi · 2 hr 2 min
Major cities from La Crosse, WI
- Chicago, IL 263 mi · 4 hr 23 min
- Philadelphia, PA 1053 mi · 16 hr 43 min
- New York City, NY 1111 mi · 17 hr 38 min
- Manhattan, NY 1112 mi · 17 hr 39 min
- Brooklyn, NY 1115 mi · 17 hr 42 min
- Queens, NY 1121 mi · 17 hr 48 min
- Houston, TX 1155 mi · 18 hr 20 min
- San Antonio, TX 1242 mi · 19 hr 43 min
- Phoenix, AZ 1539 mi · 24 hr 26 min
- Los Angeles, CA 1845 mi · 29 hr 17 min