# Los Angeles, USA → Seattle, USA RTT

🇺🇸 **Los Angeles, USA (LAX)** → 🇺🇸 **Seattle, USA (SEA)**

Measurement round: `2026-08-16T04:07:28Z`.

In the 2026-08-16T04:07:28Z measurement round, the ICMP echo RTT from Los Angeles, USA to Seattle, USA averaged 26.9 ms over 50 samples, with a minimum of 25.5 ms and a maximum of 29.88 ms. Zero packet loss and 0.89 ms jitter place this path in the ultra-low-latency tier.

The route ranked first among the 19 routes measured from this origin in the same cycle. Its 1.13 ms standard deviation is low in absolute terms, though the corresponding relative variation of about 4.2% is slightly above the 3.28% median across the route set; the connection remains very stable at the ICMP layer.

Los Angeles is a primary US West Coast landing point for trans-Pacific cables, and Seattle is the Pacific Northwest's primary interconnection hub, so this path is more regional than intercontinental. The 1,543.6 km geodesic distance implies a fiber floor of 15.12 ms; at 26.9 ms the measured RTT is 1.78x that floor, or 56.2% fiber efficiency, leaving noticeable headroom relative to the fiber floor.

## Latency Summary

| Metric               | Value                                                        |
| -------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------ |
| RTT                  | **26.9 ms**                                                  |
| Jitter               | **0.89 ms**                                                  |
| Packet Loss          | **0%**                                                       |
| Standard Fiber Floor | **15.12 ms**                                                 |
| Fiber Efficiency     | **56.2%**                                                    |
| Latency Tier         | Ultra-Low                                                    |
| Source Region        | [North America](/docs/network/latency/regions/north-america) |
| Destination Region   | [North America](/docs/network/latency/regions/north-america) |

## Ping Measurement Series

The chart below renders the 50-sample ICMP echo measurement round for this route; an accessible table of every sample is included with the chart.

## Download This Route's Data

This route's measurement round is published as open data (CC BY 4.0) in CSV, JSON, and YAML. See [About This Measurement](#about-this-measurement) for citation guidance.

## Theoretical Fiber Latency

The public physical reference uses the GeoNames city centres for [Los Angeles](https://www.geonames.org/5368361) (34.05223, -118.24368) and [Seattle](https://www.geonames.org/5809844) (47.60621, -122.33207). It does not disclose either facility address.

| Physical Reference                            | Value          |
| --------------------------------------------- | -------------- |
| WGS-84 geodesic distance                      | **1,543.6 km** |
| Vacuum RTT floor                              | **10.3 ms**    |
| Standard fiber RTT floor ($n_g=1.4679$)       | **15.12 ms**   |
| Low-latency fiber material floor              | **15.06 ms**   |
| Engineering floor (5% path allowance)         | **15.87 ms**   |
| Research 1.33× mapped-fiber reference         | **20.1 ms**    |
| Estimated unamplified path loss               | **324.2 dB**   |
| Transparent optical spans / inline amplifiers | **21 / 20**    |
| Published RTT inflation over fiber floor      | **1.78×**      |

Attenuation is used to estimate the number of 80 km optical spans; it does not directly slow light. See the full [theoretical fiber latency, GeoNames, attenuation, and amplifier methodology](/docs/network/latency/theoretical-fiber-latency).

## Stability & Trend

The current measurement round (2026-08-16T04:07:28Z) collected 50 ICMP echo samples on this route. Distribution statistics from that round:

| Round Statistic    | Value        |
| ------------------ | ------------ |
| Minimum RTT        | **25.5 ms**  |
| Average RTT        | **26.9 ms**  |
| Maximum RTT        | **29.88 ms** |
| Standard deviation | **1.13 ms**  |
| Stdev / average    | **4.2%**     |

## Route Context

* Departure PoP: [Los Angeles (LAX)](/docs/network/latency/lax-los-angeles)
* Destination PoP: [Seattle (SEA)](/docs/network/latency/sea-seattle)
* Region overview: [North America](/docs/network/latency/regions/north-america) → [North America](/docs/network/latency/regions/north-america)
* Full global matrix: [Backbone Latency Matrix](/docs/network/latency)
* Physical methodology: [Theoretical Fiber Latency](/docs/network/latency/theoretical-fiber-latency)

## Related City-Pair Routes

**Reverse direction**

* [Seattle to Los Angeles latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/sea-lax-rtt) — 25.9 ms

**Fastest routes departing Los Angeles (LAX)**

* [Los Angeles to Miami latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/lax-mia-rtt) — 57.3 ms
* [Los Angeles to New York latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/lax-nyc-rtt) — 57.9 ms
* [Los Angeles to Ashburn latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/lax-iad-rtt) — 60.4 ms
* [Los Angeles to Tokyo latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/lax-tyo-rtt) — 101.2 ms
* [Los Angeles to London latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/lax-lon-rtt) — 129.2 ms

**Fastest routes arriving at Seattle (SEA)**

* [New York to Seattle latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/nyc-sea-rtt) — 58.7 ms
* [Ashburn to Seattle latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/iad-sea-rtt) — 62.3 ms
* [Miami to Seattle latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/mia-sea-rtt) — 81.9 ms
* [Tokyo to Seattle latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/tyo-sea-rtt) — 84.8 ms
* [Taipei to Seattle latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/tpe-sea-rtt) — 115.8 ms

**Same corridor (North America → North America)**

* [Ashburn to New York latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/iad-nyc-rtt) — 6 ms
* [New York to Ashburn latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/nyc-iad-rtt) — 6 ms
* [Miami to Ashburn latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/mia-iad-rtt) — 27.3 ms

## About This Measurement

Published RTT reflects best-case backbone path behavior measured with ICMP echo probes between PoPs. End-user latency also depends on local access networks, congestion, routing policy, and traffic engineering. None of these values is an SLA.

The measurement round behind this page is published as open data under **CC BY 4.0** in the [Hats Network latency dataset](/opendata/latency/). Per-pair files are available at `/opendata/latency/latest/pairs/lax-sea.pings.{csv,json,yaml}`. When citing, include the route, the measurement round timestamp, and the dataset version — for example: "Hats Network latency dataset, Los Angeles → Seattle round 2026-08-16T04:07:28Z, CC BY 4.0".

***

*Data auto-generated on August 16, 2026. Explore the [full interactive latency matrix](/docs/network/latency) or browse more [city-pair routes](/docs/network/latency/pairs).*

---

## License and attribution

- **Canonical source:** [View the human-readable HTML page](https://hatsnet.io/docs/network/latency/pairs/lax-sea-rtt).
- **Original documentation:** © Hats Network Inc., licensed under [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).
- **Public latency data:** © Hats Network Inc., licensed under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
- **Full terms:** [Content and Data License](https://hatsnet.io/docs/legal/content-and-data-license) — includes attribution requirements, third-party material, trademarks, source code and other exclusions.