--- title: "Los Angeles to San Francisco (LAX → SFO): distance and flight time · Orbit" description: "Los Angeles to San Francisco is 543 km (338 mi) great circle, an estimated 1h 11m in the air. The route, what it flies over, and why the short way is not the straight line on a map." url: https://orbitflights.app/routes/lax-to-sfo --- LAX → SFO # Los Angeles to San Francisco: distance, flight time and the route it really takes Los Angeles to San Francisco is 543 km of great circle — 338 mi — and an estimated 1h 11m in the air. Both ends are in North America. **Great circle** 543 km 338 mi **Estimated in the air** 1h 11m block time **Furthest from equator** 37.6°N at 100% along **One lap of Earth** 1.4% of 40,075 km Of the [292 routes catalogued here](https://orbitflights.app/routes), this is the 279th longest. The Los Angeles to San Francisco route drawn as a great circle arc on a globe ## What the aircraft actually flies over From Los Angeles the path crosses the United States. The furthest the great circle gets from the equator is 37.6°N, 100% of the way along. Holding a single compass bearing the whole way would cover almost exactly the same ground, so on this route the flat map and the globe agree. The heading barely moves: north-west out of Los Angeles, north-west into San Francisco. Over this distance the curve has too little room to bend the compass. One economy seat on it is about 81 kg of CO₂e each way, counting non-CO₂ warming. [LAX–SFO carbon footprint →](https://orbitflights.app/tools/flight-carbon-calculator?from=LAX&to=SFO) [Map this route →](https://orbitflights.app/tools/flight-route-map?r=LAX-SFO) From LAX ## Los Angeles Los Angeles, United States · North America 33.9°N, 118.4°W [LAX airport →](https://orbitflights.app/airports/lax) [Flights to Los Angeles →](https://orbitflights.app/flights-to/los-angeles) To SFO ## San Francisco San Francisco, United States · North America 37.6°N, 122.4°W [SFO airport →](https://orbitflights.app/airports/sfo) [Flights to San Francisco →](https://orbitflights.app/flights-to/san-francisco) ## Los Angeles to San Francisco, asked and answered **How far is Los Angeles to San Francisco?** Los Angeles to San Francisco (LAX to SFO) is 543 km, or 338 mi, measured as great circle distance between the two airports. **How long is the flight from Los Angeles to San Francisco?** About 1h 11m in the air. That is an estimate from the distance at a typical airliner block speed, plus half an hour for taxi, climb and descent; published schedules vary with winds and routing. **What route does a Los Angeles to San Francisco flight take?** The great circle passes over the United States. It reaches 37.6°N at its furthest from the equator. ## Where these numbers come from Distances are computed from the two airports’ own coordinates, not looked up from published routes. Times are estimates, not schedules. [Why the shortest path is a curve →](https://orbitflights.app/blog/great-circle-routes-explained) ## Flown this one? Orbit logs it in two taps and draws the arc on your own globe, along with every other flight you can remember. Free for your first 15. [Download now](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.qwertybit.orbit) ## Nearby routes [LAX → DEN Los Angeles to Denver 1,385 km](https://orbitflights.app/routes/lax-to-den) [LAX → SEA Los Angeles to Seattle 1,537 km](https://orbitflights.app/routes/lax-to-sea) [LAX → MEX Los Angeles to Mexico City 2,500 km](https://orbitflights.app/routes/lax-to-mex) [LAX → ORD Los Angeles to Chicago 2,802 km](https://orbitflights.app/routes/lax-to-ord) [SFO → HNL San Francisco to Honolulu 3,857 km](https://orbitflights.app/routes/sfo-to-hnl) [JFK → LAX New York to Los Angeles 3,974 km](https://orbitflights.app/routes/jfk-to-lax) ## Further reading [How many miles do you have to fly around the world?](https://orbitflights.app/blog/how-many-miles-to-fly-around-the-world) [What is on the exact opposite side of the world?](https://orbitflights.app/blog/opposite-side-of-the-world) [What's actually worth counting in a flight log](https://orbitflights.app/blog/what-is-worth-counting-in-a-flight-log) --- Markdown copy of https://orbitflights.app/routes/lax-to-sfo for language models and agents. Site index: https://orbitflights.app/llms.txt