how far is oakland from san francisco

Oakland and San Francisco are very close: the straight-line distance between the city centers is about 8 miles (around 13 km), and typical driving routes run about 10–12 miles depending on where you start and end.

Basic distance info

• The “as-the-crow-flies” distance between Oakland and San Francisco is roughly 8 miles (about 13 kilometers).

• Common driving routes (usually across the Bay Bridge) are around 10–12 miles, with many calculators giving about 20 km for central‑to‑central trips.

Travel time snapshot

• By car, with light traffic, the trip can be around 15–25 minutes; in heavy rush‑hour traffic it can stretch closer to 40 minutes or more.

• Transit (like BART) usually takes on the order of 15–30 minutes between many Oakland and San Francisco stations, not counting walking or transfers.

Quick FAQ style notes

• For “how far is Oakland from San Francisco” in casual terms, many travel guides describe it as “about 10 miles apart” because that matches most common driving & transit routes people actually use.

• The two cities are separated by the San Francisco Bay, so nearly all routes involve crossing a bridge or using transit/tunnel infrastructure even though the raw map distance is short.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.