Seattle, WA to Monterey, CA: distance, drive time and fuel cost
It is about 882 miles from Seattle, WA to Monterey, CA, which is roughly 14 hr behind the wheel. Everything below is an estimate — see how it is worked out at the bottom of the page.
Estimated road distance
882miles
1,420 km
- Drive time
- 14 hr
- Average speed
- 63 mph
- Fuel cost
- $109
- Fuel used
- 34.7 gal
Cities along the way
Places within about 25 miles of the route from Seattle, WA to Monterey, CA, in the order you would reach them.
- South Hill, WA37 mi
- Portland, OR166 mi
- Klamath Falls, OR432 mi
- Redding, CA562 mi
- Yuba City, CA679 mi
- San Jose, CA823 mi
What the drive from Seattle to Monterey is like
The route runs from Seattle, WA to Monterey, CA, crossing 2 state lines — Washington, Oregon and California. Speed limits and everyday driving rules are set state by state, so what is posted can change as you cross. At roughly 14 hr of driving this is a multi-day trip for anyone driving alone. Planned as two or three stages it is a genuine road trip; attempted in one push it is a bad idea.
There are 6 towns of any size close to the line between the two cities, the first being South Hill, WA at about 37 miles in. That matters mostly for where you can stop: on a 14 hr drive the useful question is not how far it is but where the fuel, food and daylight run out.
Flying this route saves about 9 hr 59 min door to door once airport time is counted, so the drive is a choice rather than the obvious option — worth it if you want the car at the other end, or if you would rather see the 882 miles than sit them out.
What the fuel works out at, and what that figure assumes
882 miles at 25.4 miles per gallon is about 34.7 gallons, which comes to roughly $109 at $3.15 a gallon. Split between four people that is about $27 each, which is the comparison worth making before you look at a flight price rather than after. Two figures in that sentence are assumptions rather than facts about your trip: the price per gallon, reviewed 2026-08, and the consumption, which is a US fleet average. Both are published with the rest of the method under fuel cost assumptions.
The size of that assumption is easy to see on this route. A fifty-cent move in the pump price either way changes the total by about $17.37 — so read $109 as the middle of a range from roughly $92 to $127, not as a quote. A car that does noticeably better or worse than 25.4 mpg shifts it further, and neither figure includes tolls, which are charged on a good deal of the interstate network in the northeast and on individual bridges and tunnels elsewhere. Nothing on this page knows which tolls apply to a particular route, so none are counted.
For the same reason the 309 kg of CO₂ this drive implies is arithmetic on the fuel rather than a measurement: 34.7 gallons of gasoline at the EPA's figure of 8.89 kg per gallon. It is useful for comparing this route against flying it, or against a longer way round, and not useful as an absolute number.