Distances from Ottumwa, IA to nearby cities and major US destinations
Drive times and estimated fuel costs from Ottumwa, IA to the towns around it and to the major cities most people head for. Pick any row for the full route.
Ottumwa, IA sits in Iowa, on Chicago time, at 41.02° north and 92.41° west. The nearest place of any size is Coralville, IA, about 73 miles away — roughly 1 hr 27 min of driving.
Counting only places above twenty thousand people, 32 are within three hours' driving of Ottumwa, IA and 315 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 Kansas City, MO, about 203 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 Ottumwa, IA
Reachable places are rarely spread evenly around a town, and they are not around Ottumwa, IA. Of everything above twenty thousand people within three hours' drive, the largest share — 12 of 32 — lies to the east, with 7 to the northwest. Only 1 sit to the southeast. 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.
21 of those places are in Iowa and 11 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 294 miles out, roughly 4 hr 54 min of driving, while Los Angeles, CA is around 1,727 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 Ottumwa, IA, the road safety guides cover the part the mileage leaves out.
Closest cities to Ottumwa, IA
- Coralville, IA 73 mi · 1 hr 27 min
- Iowa City, IA 74 mi · 1 hr 29 min
- Burlington, IA 80 mi · 1 hr 37 min
- Des Moines, IA 86 mi · 1 hr 43 min
- Marshalltown, IA 88 mi · 1 hr 45 min
- Muscatine, IA 89 mi · 1 hr 46 min
- West Des Moines, IA 90 mi · 1 hr 48 min
- Cedar Rapids, IA 92 mi · 1 hr 50 min
- Ankeny, IA 92 mi · 1 hr 50 min
- Urbandale, IA 92 mi · 1 hr 51 min
Major cities from Ottumwa, IA
- Chicago, IL 294 mi · 4 hr 54 min
- Houston, TX 922 mi · 14 hr 39 min
- San Antonio, TX 1010 mi · 16 hr 2 min
- Philadelphia, PA 1053 mi · 16 hr 43 min
- New York City, NY 1114 mi · 17 hr 41 min
- Manhattan, NY 1115 mi · 17 hr 42 min
- Brooklyn, NY 1118 mi · 17 hr 45 min
- Queens, NY 1124 mi · 17 hr 51 min
- Phoenix, AZ 1389 mi · 22 hr 3 min
- Los Angeles, CA 1727 mi · 27 hr 24 min