Figuring out where Jackson is located in The Last of Us 2 isn’t very easy. You’re only given a few explicit clues as to where the city is located during the game. We know it’s in Wyoming, but it’s a pretty big state with a varied landscape. However, we know exactly where it is due to some facts we’ve learned about the town and the surrounding area during the two The Last of Us games.
We’ll put together the pieces to find where Jackson is in The Last of Us 2 below. We’ll also do the math to show you the distance between Jackson and Seattle and how long it would take to make the trip by horse.
Where is Jackson in The Last of Us 2?
We know for sure that Jackson is in Wyoming. However, the game says the city is supposed to be located in is given as Jackson County. Well, there is no Jackson County, Wyoming. You might think that with the town being situated in a fictional county that the whole place is made up. However, that’s not the case.
There actually is a Jackson, Wyoming, but it’s located in Teton County, not Jackson County. The area shown in The Last of Us is very similar to Jackson’s layout in real life, including its proximity to ski resorts. Further strengthening this connection is Jackson’s proximity to the Salt River Hydroelectric Powerplant, which is likely the location the powerplant in the first game is based upon.
Real-world Jackson’s population is currently around 10,000, and images of the city look a lot like what we see of it in the game, sans the defensive wall. So, pretty much everything about Jackson in the game matches this real-life location sans the name of the county.
How far is Jackson from Seattle in The Last of Us 2, and long would the trip take?
Ellie leaves Jackson and just pops up in Seattle in the span of a cutscene, making it seem like there’s not that much distance between the two. Ellie and Dina certainly didn’t leave Jackson with many provisions, so you’d think it was a few days ride at most.
Riding on a horse, Ellie and Dina would have to head southeast into Idaho towards Twin Falls, then cut northwest towards Boise to avoid dense forest and mountain ranges. More than likely, the two followed this route:
- I-15 south into Pocatello
- I-86 west to Twin Falls
- I-84 northwest to Stanfield
- I-82 to Ellensburg
- I-90 northwest to Seattle
This is far from a straight shot, but it would likely be the easiest to traverse if they followed the road and prevents them from having to ford any significant stretches of water if a bridge has collapsed. It also would allow them to scavenge in towns scattered along the way without passing through any densely populated areas.
All told, this hypothesized route is 860 miles. A horse can walk at around four miles per hour, and they’re not going to push it much harder than that because they’re riding double. If they’re riding ten-hour days, which is about as much as you’re going to get while factoring in time for scavenging, sleep, and allowing the horse to graze and rest, it’s going to take 21.5 days to get from Jackson, WY to Seattle, WA.
While it wasn’t shown in-game, Ellie and Dina tracked Abby for almost a month before arriving in downtown Seattle. Although the game is plenty long as is, it’d be interesting to see what happened on their journey to Seattle as there were a lot of interesting places along the way.
