Distances from San Clemente, CA to nearby and major US cities
Drive times and estimated fuel costs from San Clemente, CA to the towns around it and to the major cities most people head for. Pick any row for the full route.
San Clemente, CA sits in California, on Los Angeles time, at 33.43° north and 117.61° west. The nearest place of any size is Dana Point, CA, about 8 miles away — roughly 15 min of driving. 60 other towns of size are within an hour's drive.
Counting only places above twenty thousand people, 198 are within three hours' driving of San Clemente, CA and 249 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 Irvine, CA, about 25 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 San Clemente, CA
Reachable places are rarely spread evenly around a town, and they are not around San Clemente, CA. Of everything above twenty thousand people within three hours' drive, the largest share — 107 of 198 — lies to the northwest, with 41 to the north. Only 10 sit to the east. 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.
198 of those places are in California and 0 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: Irvine, CA is about 25 miles out, roughly 40 min of driving, while Queens, NY is around 2,830 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 San Clemente, CA, the road safety guides cover the part the mileage leaves out.
Closest cities to San Clemente, CA
- Dana Point, CA 8 mi · 15 min
- San Juan Capistrano, CA 8 mi · 16 min
- Laguna Niguel, CA 12 mi · 23 min
- Ladera Ranch, CA 14 mi · 27 min
- Aliso Viejo, CA 16 mi · 25 min
- Mission Viejo, CA 17 mi · 27 min
- Laguna Beach, CA 17 mi · 27 min
- Laguna Hills, CA 19 mi · 30 min
- Lake Forest, CA 19 mi · 31 min
- Rancho Santa Margarita, CA 20 mi · 32 min
Major cities from San Clemente, CA
- Irvine, CA 25 mi · 40 min
- Santa Ana, CA 32 mi · 51 min
- Los Angeles, CA 65 mi · 1 hr 19 min
- San Francisco, CA 468 mi · 7 hr 26 min
- Houston, TX 1544 mi · 24 hr 30 min
- Chicago, IL 2006 mi · 31 hr 50 min
- Philadelphia, PA 2751 mi · 43 hr 40 min
- New York City, NY 2819 mi · 44 hr 45 min
- Brooklyn, NY 2823 mi · 44 hr 48 min
- Queens, NY 2830 mi · 44 hr 55 min