Map of San Rafael, California, United States

San Rafael is a city in California, United States, with a population of about 59,162. It lies at 37.9735°N, 122.5311°W, about 13 m above sea level. San Rafael is about 3,922 km (2,437 mi) west of Washington, D.C., the capital. The nearest city on our map is Novato, 15 km to the north.

San Rafael at a glance

Where is San Rafael?

• Located in the Northern and Western hemispheres.
• Daylight ranges from about 9 h 32 min on the shortest day to 14 h 48 min on the longest day (around 21 December and 21 June).

Cities near San Rafael

• Novato — 15 km north
• Richmond — 17 km east
• San Francisco — 24 km southeast
• Berkeley — 25 km southeast
• Vallejo — 28 km northeast
• Oakland — 30 km southeast
• Petaluma — 30 km north
• Daly City — 30 km south
• Alameda — 33 km southeast
• Martinez — 35 km east

Largest cities in California

• Los Angeles — 3,820,914
• San Diego — 1,404,452
• San Jose — 997,368
• San Francisco — 827,526
• Fresno — 542,107
• Sacramento — 524,943
• Long Beach — 474,140
• Oakland — 419,267
• Bakersfield — 373,640
• Anaheim — 350,742

Largest cities in United States

• New York City — 8,804,190
• Los Angeles — 3,820,914
• Brooklyn — 2,736,074
• Chicago — 2,664,452
• Queens — 2,316,841
• Houston — 2,314,157
• Phoenix — 1,650,070
• Philadelphia — 1,573,916
• San Antonio — 1,526,656
• Manhattan — 1,487,536

Map of United States and all its cities →

Other places named San Rafael

• San Rafael — Mendoza, Argentina
• San Rafael — Zulia, Venezuela

Sources: place names, coordinates, populations and time zones from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0, data retrieved October 2026). Population figures are the latest values recorded in GeoNames; depending on the country they refer to the city proper, a municipality or a wider urban area, so they can differ from census or metro-area figures. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.