Great-circle route IAH → SFO. Faint dots are other airports, for geographic context. Download this map — free to reuse with a link back to this page.
The flight time from Houston to San Francisco is approximately 3h 45m nonstop. The distance is 1,632 miles (2,626 km). There are about 9 nonstop flights from Houston to San Francisco per day.
That is a great-circle estimate, not a scheduled block time. An airline's published time will differ by roughly 15 to 45 minutes depending on routing, winds and taxi.
| Route | Est. time | Distance | Frequency | Airlines |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IAH → SFO George Bush Intercontinental Houston Airport to San Francisco International Airport |
3h 45m | 1,632 mi | 60/wk | United Airlines |
| HOU → SFO William P Hobby Airport to San Francisco International Airport |
3h 47m | 1,646 mi | 3/wk | Southwest Airlines |
Frequencies come from our most recent schedule sample. Where a pairing shows “—” we track it as an operating nonstop but hold no schedule sample for it — we would rather show nothing than guess.
2 airlines fly nonstop from Houston to San Francisco, including Southwest Airlines, United Airlines.
Recent scheduled departures on this route have used the Boeing 737-900, Boeing 737, Boeing 777, Boeing 737-800.
Aircraft assignments change by season and by time of day.
On a long east–west route like this one the two directions do not take the same time. Aircraft flying eastbound ride the mid-latitude jet stream and typically arrive earlier than the westbound leg, which flies into it. The difference is commonly 30 to 90 minutes on transatlantic and transpacific flights, and it varies by season. The estimate above does not model wind — treat it as a midpoint and check the airline's own timetable for the block time on your date.
The distance from Houston to San Francisco is 1,632 miles, or 2,626 kilometres.
| Great-circle distance | 1,632 mi |
| Kilometres | 2,626 km |
| Nautical miles | 1,418 nmi |
Measured airport to airport. The actual track is longer — aircraft follow airways, avoid restricted airspace and route around weather.
Yes. 2 airlines fly it nonstop, with about 63 departures a week, across 2 airport pairings. The route is in our live nonstop dataset, last seeded 2026-07-07.
About 3h 45m in the air on the IAH–SFO nonstop. That is a great-circle estimate from the 1,632-mile distance, not a scheduled block time — an airline's published time will differ by roughly 15 to 45 minutes depending on routing, winds and taxi.
1,632 miles (2,626 km) great-circle between George Bush Intercontinental Houston Airport and San Francisco International Airport.
Southwest Airlines, United Airlines.
Recent scheduled departures have used the Boeing 737-900, Boeing 737, Boeing 777, Boeing 737-800. Assignments change by season and by time of day.
IAH to SFO, HOU to SFO. Flight times differ slightly between them because the airports are not in the same place.
