St. Louis to Memphis distance

St. Louis to Memphis by road

The fastest driving route is 283 miles (455 km) long and takes about 5 hr 5 min without stops or traffic. Almost all of it is on I-55: 274 mi of 283 mi.

It goes through 2 states: Missouri (209 mi) and Arkansas (72.4 mi). That’s an average of 55 mph (89 km/h). AAA recommends a break every two hours or 100 miles: with 2 stops of 20 minutes, the trip takes about 5 hr 45 min. 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, St. Louis and Memphis are 240 miles (386 km) apart. That’s the geodesic on the WGS84 ellipsoid, the distance “as the crow flies”.

The road is 18% longer: for every 100 miles in a straight line you drive 118. That’s a normal detour between two cities. Of the 110 US driving pairs in this series, it ranks 31st for detour (the average is 16%).

From St. Louis, Memphis lies to the south (bearing 178°), and from Memphis, St. Louis lies to the north.

Halfway between St. Louis and Memphis

Halfway along the straight line, 120 miles (193 km) from each city, is the point 36.8887° N, 90.1217° W. It falls near Puxico (Missouri, pop. 867), 4.7 mi away.

By road, the halfway point is 141 miles (228 km) from each city, in Miner (Missouri, pop. 894). The two midpoints are 32.6 mi apart: if you want to meet halfway, the one on the road is the useful one.

Time zone and flight

St. Louis and Memphis share the same time all year: both are on Central Time.

No flight time is given: under 500 km (311 miles) in a straight line, time at the airport outweighs time in the air.

The two cities

St. Louis sits at 464 ft (141 m) and Memphis at 259 ft (79 m), 205 ft (62 m) lower.

St. Louis has 278,144 people and Memphis 609,647 people (Census Bureau estimate for 2025).