San Francisco to Honolulu distance

San Francisco to Honolulu in a straight line

In a straight line, the shortest distance over the Earth’s surface, San Francisco and Honolulu are 2,397 miles (3,857 km) apart, 10% of the way around the Earth at the equator. That’s the geodesic on the WGS84 ellipsoid, the distance “as the crow flies”. There’s no road between them: Honolulu is on Oahu, and the straight line crosses 2,381 mi of sea.

From San Francisco, Honolulu lies to the west (bearing 252°), and from Honolulu, San Francisco lies to the northeast. The straight line reaches Honolulu on a bearing of 234°: the bearing keeps turning along the way (18° in all), which is why the shortest route looks curved on a flat map.

If the plane kept the same bearing all the way (242°, to the southwest), it would follow the rhumb line, the one that looks straight on a Mercator map: 2,406 miles (3,873 km), 9.7 mi more (0.4% longer).

What the route flies over

Under the straight line there are 2,381 mi of sea (99%) and 15.5 mi of land, over the United States.

Planes don’t follow the line exactly: they fly along airways, chase tailwinds and avoid closed airspace, but on long flights they stay close to it.

Halfway between San Francisco and Honolulu

Halfway along the straight line, 1,198 miles (1,929 km) from each city, is the point 30.7530° N, 141.6327° W. It falls at sea; the nearest town is Honomu (Hawaii, pop. 376), 1,126 mi away.

Time difference and flight

A direct flight would take about 5 hr 20 min. That’s an estimate: 30 minutes for takeoff, climb, descent and landing, plus the 3,857 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).

In January, Honolulu is 2 hours behind San Francisco; in July, 3 hours behind San Francisco. It changes because they don’t switch to summer time together.

With that flight time, if you leave San Francisco at 10:00, you land in Honolulu around 13:20 (Honolulu time) in January and around 12:20 in July.

The two cities

Honolulu is 16.5° farther south than San Francisco and 35.4° farther west. They sit at almost the same elevation: 55 ft (17 m) and 19 ft (6 m). San Francisco has 826,079 people and Honolulu 345,482 people (Census Bureau estimate for 2025).