Distances from Washington, DC to nearby and major US cities
Drive times and estimated fuel costs from Washington, DC to the towns around it and to the major cities most people head for. Pick any row for the full route.
Washington, DC sits in District of Columbia, on New York time, at 38.91° north and 77.04° west. The nearest place of any size is Springfield, VA, about 16 miles away — roughly 25 min of driving. 65 other towns of size are within an hour's drive.
Counting only places above twenty thousand people, 140 are within three hours' driving of Washington, DC and 503 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 Baltimore, MD, about 43 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 Washington, DC
Reachable places are rarely spread evenly around a town, and they are not around Washington, DC. Of everything above twenty thousand people within three hours' drive, the largest share — 60 of 140 — lies to the northeast, with 21 to the south. Only 2 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.
Everything within three hours of Washington, DC lies 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 set state by state, so almost any drive from here is governed by two sets of rules. The state-by-state differences are set out separately.
The major-city list below spans a wide range: Baltimore, MD is about 43 miles out, roughly 51 min of driving, while Nashville, TN is around 657 miles — a different order of trip entirely, and one to plan in stages rather than as a day. All 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 Washington, DC, the road safety guides cover the part the mileage leaves out.
Closest cities to Washington, DC
- Springfield, VA 16 mi · 25 min
- Potomac, MD 16 mi · 26 min
- Aspen Hill, MD 16 mi · 26 min
- Clinton, MD 17 mi · 26 min
- Fairland, MD 17 mi · 27 min
- South Laurel, MD 18 mi · 29 min
- Fairfax, VA 18 mi · 29 min
- West Springfield, VA 18 mi · 29 min
- Rockville, MD 19 mi · 29 min
- Fort Washington, MD 19 mi · 30 min
Major cities from Washington, DC
- Baltimore, MD 43 mi · 51 min
- Richmond, VA 112 mi · 2 hr 14 min
- Newark, NJ 232 mi · 3 hr 52 min
- Durham, NC 262 mi · 4 hr 22 min
- Raleigh, NC 271 mi · 4 hr 31 min
- Cleveland, OH 353 mi · 5 hr 53 min
- Charlotte, NC 382 mi · 6 hr 22 min
- Boston, MA 462 mi · 7 hr 20 min
- Detroit, MI 523 mi · 8 hr 18 min
- Nashville, TN 657 mi · 10 hr 26 min