Distances from Roswell, NM to nearby cities and major US destinations
Drive times and estimated fuel costs from Roswell, NM to the towns around it and to the major cities most people head for. Pick any row for the full route.
Roswell, NM sits in New Mexico, on Denver time, at 33.39° north and 104.52° west. The nearest place of any size is Carlsbad, NM, about 81 miles away — roughly 1 hr 37 min of driving.
Counting only places above twenty thousand people, 6 are within three hours' driving of Roswell, NM and 23 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 El Paso, TX, about 186 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 Roswell, NM
Reachable places are rarely spread evenly around a town, and they are not around Roswell, NM. Of everything above twenty thousand people within three hours' drive, the largest share — 1 of 6 — lies to the east, with 1 to the southwest. Only 1 sit to the south. 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.
5 of those places are in New Mexico and 1 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: Tucson, AZ is about 441 miles out, roughly 7 hr of driving, while Queens, NY is around 2,037 miles — a different order of trip entirely, and one to plan in stages rather than as a day. 3 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 Roswell, NM, the road safety guides cover the part the mileage leaves out.
Closest cities to Roswell, NM
- Carlsbad, NM 81 mi · 1 hr 37 min
- Alamogordo, NM 104 mi · 2 hr 5 min
- Hobbs, NM 109 mi · 2 hr 10 min
- Clovis, NM 119 mi · 2 hr 23 min
- Las Cruces, NM 175 mi · 2 hr 55 min
- Lubbock, TX 179 mi · 2 hr 59 min
- Socorro, TX 184 mi · 3 hr 4 min
- Socorro Mission Number 1 Colonia, TX 185 mi · 3 hr 5 min
- West Odessa, TX 185 mi · 3 hr 5 min
- El Paso, TX 186 mi · 3 hr 6 min
Major cities from Roswell, NM
- Tucson, AZ 441 mi · 7 hr
- Denver, CO 509 mi · 8 hr 5 min
- Austin, TX 525 mi · 8 hr 20 min
- Houston, TX 690 mi · 10 hr 57 min
- Los Angeles, CA 915 mi · 14 hr 32 min
- Chicago, IL 1264 mi · 20 hr 4 min
- Philadelphia, PA 1949 mi · 30 hr 57 min
- New York City, NY 2027 mi · 32 hr 10 min
- Brooklyn, NY 2030 mi · 32 hr 13 min
- Queens, NY 2037 mi · 32 hr 20 min