Los Angeles to Dallas distance

Los Angeles to Dallas by road

The fastest driving route is 1,438 miles (2,314 km) long and takes about 24 hr 45 min without stops or traffic. It runs mostly on I-10 (959 mi) and I-20 (421 mi).

It goes through 4 states: California (226 mi), Arizona (392 mi), New Mexico (164 mi), and Texas (655 mi). That’s an average of 58 mph (94 km/h). AAA recommends a break every two hours or 100 miles: with 12 stops of 20 minutes, the trip takes about 28 hr 45 min. At about 8 hours behind the wheel a day, it’s a 4-day drive. The time is OSRM’s estimate with OpenStreetMap data: no traffic and speeds somewhat below the limits, so real trips can differ.

Straight-line distance and bearing

In a straight line, the shortest distance over the Earth’s surface, Los Angeles and Dallas are 1,240 miles (1,995 km) apart. That’s the geodesic on the WGS84 ellipsoid, the distance “as the crow flies”.

The road is 16% longer: for every 100 miles in a straight line you drive 116. That’s a normal detour between two cities. Of the 110 US driving pairs in this series, it ranks 47th for detour (the average is 16%).

From Los Angeles, Dallas lies to the east (bearing 88°), and from Dallas, Los Angeles lies to the west. The straight line reaches Dallas on a bearing of 100°: on a sphere the bearing keeps changing along the way, which is why the shortest route looks slightly curved on a flat map.

Halfway between Los Angeles and Dallas

Halfway along the straight line, 620 miles (998 km) from each city, is the point 33.8850° N, 107.4463° W. It falls near Magdalena (New Mexico, pop. 776), 19.8 mi away.

By road, the halfway point is 719 miles (1,157 km) from each city, near Pecan Park (New Mexico, pop. 575), 12.6 mi away. The nearest town of 20,000 people or more is Ciudad Juárez (Chihuahua, Mexico, pop. 1,512,450), 69.1 mi away. The two midpoints are 113 mi apart: if you want to meet halfway, the one on the road is the useful one.

Time difference and flight

Dallas is 2 hours ahead of Los Angeles all year (Central Time versus Pacific Time): when it’s 12:00 in Los Angeles, it’s 14:00 in Dallas.

A direct flight would take about 3 hr. That’s an estimate: 30 minutes for takeoff, climb, descent and landing, plus the 1,995 km straight line at 800 km/h (about 497 mph), a typical airliner cruising speed. Real schedules depend on wind, routing and airports, and not every pair has a direct flight. Westbound flights usually take a little longer than eastbound ones because of high-altitude winds (the jet stream).

The two cities

Los Angeles sits at 284 ft (87 m) and Dallas at 428 ft (130 m), 144 ft (44 m) higher.

Los Angeles has 3.9 million people and Dallas 1.3 million people (Census Bureau estimate for 2025).