Las Vegas to Los Angeles freight
Las Vegas to Los Angeles freight is a regular lane for Lifetime Logistics Services LLC, hauled by dry van or box truck from Las Vegas, North Las Vegas and Henderson to receivers throughout the Los Angeles basin, from Ontario and Fontana to Commerce and Vernon. It runs about 271 miles down Interstate 15 through the Mojave and over Cajon Pass, roughly five hours of driving, so loads deliver the same day, and one dispatcher handles each one from the first call to the signed receipt. Send the pickup, the delivery and the date through the quote form, and the dispatcher replies with a price to book.
From our dispatch records
- Distance
- About 271 miles
- Typical transit
- Same day
- How often we run it
- A regular lane, each way
- Trailer types
- Dry van, box truck, power only
- Who hauls it
- Highway screened carriers and our own tractors
Today's estimate
Las Vegas to Los Angeles, about 272 miles. Full truckload, computed October 29, 2026.
| Trailer | Low | Typical | High | Per mile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dry van | $1,100 | $1,100 | $1,125 | $4.04 |
Return trip today: a dry van from Los Angeles to Las Vegas prices about 61 percent higher, so trucks are easier to find heading this way than coming back.
Diesel: $6.352 a gallon the week of October 26, 2026 (EIA U.S. average), down 27 cents since August 10, 2026. Every estimate above already includes fuel at that price.
Full truckload, linehaul including fuel, before accessorials such as detention or lumper.
Estimate from our own lane history and today's diesel price. Ask for a firm quote.
The route
- Road miles
- Driving time
- Transit, one driver
- Main highways
- Interstate 15, Interstate 10
| Trailer | Typical transit | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Dry van or power only | Same day | Dock to dock; a drop trailer saves the waiting time at either end. |
| Flatbed | Same day | Allow time to tarp and secure; oversize pieces travel in daylight only, which can add a day. |
| Box truck or cargo van | Same day | For a short shipment that should not wait for a full trailer. |
What Las Vegas sends back to Southern California
Las Vegas is known as a place freight goes to, and it does take in far more than it ships: food, drink, linens and furnishings for the resorts, and everything a metro area of more than two million people buys in its stores. A city that size still produces plenty of southbound freight, though, and much of it ends up in the Los Angeles basin. Convention freight is the most distinctive part. When a large trade show closes, exhibit crates, booth structures, displays and product samples head back to the companies and exhibit builders that sent them, many of which are in Southern California, and all of it wants a truck within a day or two of the teardown.
The rest of the southbound mix comes from ordinary commerce. Store returns and overstock flow back to the regional distribution buildings in the Inland Empire. Resort and casino remodels send out used furniture, fixtures and gaming equipment. Warehouses and plants in the industrial parks of North Las Vegas and Henderson ship food and beverage products, building materials, cabinets and printed goods, and recyclers bale cardboard and plastic for mills and for export yards around the San Pedro Bay harbor.
Interstate 15 south from the Strip to the basin
The truck leaves the valley on Interstate 15 southbound, passing the Strip and the southern suburbs before the city gives way to open desert at Jean and the state line at Primm. In California the road climbs out of the Ivanpah Valley to Mountain Pass, the high point of the trip at roughly 4,700 feet, then makes the long drop toward Baker, where the giant roadside thermometer marks the last real town before the empty miles to Barstow.
Just east of Barstow, every truck coming in from Nevada pulls over for California’s farm and pest inspection at Yermo, so drivers keep the bills of lading close at hand. Beyond Barstow the interstate crosses the high desert through Victorville and Hesperia, crests Cajon Pass and descends steeply between the San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountains toward Devore and San Bernardino. Deliveries in Fontana, Ontario or Rancho Cucamonga come up soon after, about 235 miles from Las Vegas; trucks bound for central Los Angeles turn west on Interstate 10 and finish across the San Gabriel Valley, about 271 miles in all.
Desert heat, wind and the Sunday rush
The Mojave between Primm and Barstow is some of the hottest interstate in the country in July and August, and Baker often reads above 110 degrees in the afternoon. Southbound, the climb from Primm to Mountain Pass is the hardest pull of the trip, so drivers fuel in Las Vegas, watch coolant and tire pressure, and take the grade in a low gear when the heat is at its peak. Wind is the other desert hazard: gusts across the open valleys can shove a light trailer around, and blowing dust can cut visibility near Barstow and on the way down Cajon Pass.
Traffic is the problem visitors know best. Southbound Interstate 15 fills with weekend travelers heading home to Southern California on Sunday afternoons and on the last day of holiday weekends, and the backups can begin near the state line and stretch for miles. Winter storms can shut Cajon Pass or slow it to a crawl, and fires in the dry months have closed it as well. A pickup timed for a weekday morning keeps the truck clear of the worst of it, and when the pass does close we tell the receiver early rather than late.
Southbound trucks are easy to come by
Because Las Vegas receives much more than it ships, carriers that have just unloaded there want a load home, and a southbound trailer is welcome business. That imbalance favors the shipper: a truck for this direction can usually be found on short notice, and vans and box trucks that came up with retail and resort freight are looking for something to fill the return. It is also part of why this is a regular lane for us in both directions, since our dispatch desk can pair northbound and southbound loads so a tractor seldom makes either trip empty.
The exception is the end of a major show. When a large convention closes, hundreds of exhibitors want trucks out of the halls in the same short window, and the carriers that specialize in show freight are booked solid for a day or two. If your load leaves Las Vegas right after a show, send the hall, the marshalling yard instructions and the teardown schedule as soon as you have them, so a truck is lined up before the floor closes. Partner carriers we screen through Highway haul much of this lane, and our own tractors take the loads that fit their schedules.
Dry vans, box trucks and power only
A 53 foot dry van carries most full loads on this lane, from palletized returns and overstock to crated exhibits and furniture coming out of a hotel remodel. Box trucks suit the smaller jobs: a few pallets, a booth that fits in a 26 foot body, or a delivery to a storefront or a lot without a dock, where a liftgate does the unloading. Box truck work here goes to partner carriers we have vetted, under the same dispatcher as everything else.
Crated displays and show cases are bulky for their weight, so give us the crate count and dimensions rather than a pallet count, and say whether anything can be stacked. Blankets, straps and load bars keep finished furniture and display pieces from shifting on the descent of Cajon Pass. Shippers who own trailers, such as exhibit houses or retailers moving their own equipment, can book power only: our tractor hooks to the loaded trailer in Las Vegas and drops it at the receiver or the shipper’s yard in Southern California.
Five hours of driving on one clock
At truck speeds the run takes about five hours to central Los Angeles and about four and a half to the Inland Empire, well inside the 11 hours a driver may spend behind the wheel in one shift. A truck that loads in Las Vegas in the morning unloads in the basin that afternoon, and same day delivery is how we plan this lane. Nevada and California share Pacific time, so a morning pickup in North Las Vegas and an afternoon appointment in Ontario are on the same clock.
What stretches the day is traffic and the receiving dock, not the distance. The interchanges around the Strip back up at rush hour, the drop down Cajon Pass slows in bad weather, and the last miles across the basin on Interstate 10 can add an hour or more on a bad afternoon. Many receivers in Los Angeles County book tight appointment windows, and a few accept deliveries only at night, so we schedule the pickup backward from the delivery slot rather than the other way round.
Booking a load out of Las Vegas
In the quote form, tell the dispatcher where the freight waits, whether at a Henderson or North Las Vegas warehouse, a resort dock or a convention hall, then the delivery address in Southern California, the pieces, weight and dimensions, the trailer and the date. Note marshalling yard rules, a liftgate, inside delivery or an appointment. On lanes we have priced that day, a dated range shows above the form, and the dispatcher sends the firm figure once your details arrive.
Each end has its own page: truckload shipping in Las Vegas, Nevada freight shipping, Los Angeles truckload service, the Inland Empire and freight shipping in California. Northbound loads have their own lane page, and freight headed for the border country around San Diego can take the Las Vegas to San Diego lane.
Questions shippers ask
- What is the driving distance for a truck out of Las Vegas?
- About 271 miles to central Los Angeles, using Interstate 15 to the Inland Empire and Interstate 10 into the city. A delivery in Ontario or Fontana is nearer, at about 235 miles.
- Will a Las Vegas pickup reach Los Angeles on the same day?
- Yes, that is the normal plan. With roughly five hours behind the wheel, a morning pickup reaches the basin in the afternoon; Sunday traffic and receivers with early closing times are what make us plan the clock with care.
- Do you haul trade show freight out of Las Vegas?
- Yes. We move exhibit crates, booth structures and displays from the convention halls back to Southern California by dry van or box truck. Send the show, the hall, the teardown day and the marshalling yard instructions early, because trucks get scarce the day a big show closes.
- Do you have trucks for the trip back north?
- Yes. Los Angeles to Las Vegas is a regular lane for us too, so one dispatcher can plan both directions and keep the tractor loaded each way.
- What sets the price of a southbound load out of Las Vegas?
- The trailer, the weight, the pickup and delivery details and the day of the week all move the price, and the days after a big show are their own market. A dated range appears above the quote form when we have priced the lane that day, and your dispatcher replies with the number to book.
Ready to price a load?
Send the quote form or call us. A person on our team replies with a price.