GTA 5 missions list: Order of GTA 5 story missions, and total number of missions in GTA 5 for PC, Windows 10/11, Xbox and PS5

GTA 5’s story runs from the Prologue in North Yankton through five big heists to The Big Score, then ends with one of three final missions: Something Sensible, The Time’s Come or The Third Way.

This page lists the story missions stage by stage, explains the map icons and mission order, shows how to replay missions and see every ending, and gives the side content you need for 100% completion.

GTA 5 story missions list

The story is built around heists, and each heist closes a chapter. Use this table as the map of the campaign, then read the stage sections below for the missions inside each one.

Story stage	Key missions in order	Who you play	What it sets up
Prologue (2004)	Prologue	Michael, Trevor	The failed Ludendorff robbery in North Yankton that makes Michael look dead
Opening Los Santos missions	Franklin’s repossession jobs, the tennis-coach chase, Madrazo’s debt	Franklin, Michael	Michael owes drug lord Martin Madrazo money and returns to crime
First heist	The Jewel Store Job	Michael, Franklin, with Lester	Pays Madrazo and tips Trevor off that Michael is alive
Trevor’s arrival	Mr. Philips, Trevor Philips Industries, Crystal Maze, Friends Reunited, Hang Ten	Trevor	Trevor wrecks his Blaine County rivals and finds Michael in Los Santos
Merryweather and the FIB	Scouting the Port, The Merryweather Heist, Minor Turbulence, Three’s Company, By the Book	All three	Trevor targets Merryweather; FIB agents Dave Norton and Steve Haines force the trio to work for them
Mid-game heists	Blitz Play, The Paleto Score, the IAA lab raid	All three	Armored-car and bank money, plus the nerve agent stolen for Steve
Devin and Madrazo	I Fought the Law…, Pack Man, Hood Safari, Caida Libre, Derailed	Mostly Trevor and Franklin	Devin Weston’s car thefts and unpaid jobs; Trevor kidnaps Patricia Madrazo
Run-up to the finale	The Bureau Raid, Bury the Hatchet, The Wrap Up	All three	Michael wipes his FIB file; Trevor finds Brad’s grave; the FIB-IAA-Merryweather standoff
Finale	The Big Score, then Something Sensible, The Time’s Come or The Third Way	All three, then Franklin	The Union Depository gold, then Franklin’s final choice

How the GTA 5 mission order works

GTA 5 is not one straight line. Story missions are linear scenarios with set objectives, but several can be open at once and you pick which character to follow.

Rule	What it means for mission order
Three protagonists	Michael, Franklin and Trevor each have their own mission strand; some missions use one character, others two or all three.
Switching	Outside missions you switch between characters with the compass wheel, except at points where the story locks a character.
Heists end chapters	Each heist has setup missions first; the finale unlocks when the setups are done.
Parallel strands	Franklin’s, Michael’s and Trevor’s strands can be played in different orders, so two players rarely have the same mission sequence.
Free roam after the Prologue	The whole map is open after the Prologue, but story progress unlocks more activities and properties.

Number of missions in GTA 5

Rockstar has not published a single official mission count on its own pages. What it does publish is the target for medal hunters: the Steam achievement Solid Gold, Baby! asks for 70 gold medals across story missions and Strangers and Freaks.

Mission type	Who gives it	Counts toward
Story missions	The three protagonists’ strands and heist crews	Story progress, gold medals, 100% completion
Heist setups and finales	Lester, Michael, the FIB and Devin Weston	Story progress
Strangers and Freaks	Characters shown with a question-mark icon on the map	Gold medals, 100% completion
Lester’s assassination contracts	Lester, for Franklin	Story-mode money via the stock market
Random events	Strangers you meet in free roam	100% completion
Ending missions	Franklin’s final choice; you play only one per save	Story completion

One playthrough only covers one ending mission, so per-save totals are always smaller than lists that include all three endings.

GTA 5 mission icon colors and letters

The minimap tells you whose mission a blip belongs to before you drive there. The letter matters more than the colour, so check both.

Icon	Meaning	What to do
Blue M	A Michael story mission	Switch to Michael to start it
Green F	A Franklin story mission	Switch to Franklin to start it
Orange T	A Trevor story mission	Switch to Trevor to start it
Question mark	A Strangers and Freaks side mission	Approach on the character shown; these feed 100% completion

GTA 5 Act 1 missions: Prologue to the opening Los Santos missions

The Prologue is set in 2004 in Ludendorff, North Yankton; the rest of the story takes place nine years later in Los Santos and Blaine County.

Beat	Character	What happens
Prologue	Michael, Trevor	A robbery with Brad Snider goes wrong; Michael is presumed dead and Brad is reported jailed
Franklin’s opening jobs	Franklin	Franklin works repossessions for a crooked car dealer with Lamar
Meeting Michael	Franklin, Michael	Franklin tries to repossess Michael’s son’s car and the two become friends
The tennis coach	Michael, Franklin	Michael chases his wife’s tennis coach and wrecks a hillside house
Madrazo’s debt	Michael	The house belongs to Martin Madrazo, who demands payment
Lester’s plan	Michael, Franklin	Lester Crest lines up a jewellery-store robbery to clear the debt

These opening missions also set up who Michael, Franklin and Trevor are and why their pasts matter later.

GTA 5 heist 1: The Jewel Store Job

The Jewel Store Job is the first heist and the first time you choose an approach. Each choice changes the setup missions you play beforehand.

Your style	Pick this approach	What happens
Quiet and quick	Smart approach	Staff and customers are knocked out with an incapacitating gas; fewer police during the robbery
Guns drawn	Loud approach	The crew storms the store; expect a heavier police response
Want the best long-term crew	Choose skilled crew members	Accomplices take a bigger cut, but survivors improve and return for later heists
Want more cash now	Choose cheaper crew members	Lower cut, higher risk that the job goes wrong

GTA 5 Act 2 missions: Trevor Philips and the mid-game

Trevor’s strand opens in Sandy Shores after he hears about the jewellery job and recognises Michael’s work.

Mission	What happens
Mr. Philips	Trevor breaks his truce with the Lost MC and other Sandy Shores rivals
Trevor Philips Industries	Trevor keeps building his meth and gun-running business
Crystal Maze	A deal with Wei Cheng’s triads falls apart and the violence spreads
Friends Reunited	Trevor drives to Los Santos and reunites with Michael
Hang Ten	Trevor moves into Floyd’s apartment and wrecks Floyd’s life
Hood Safari	Trevor and Franklin work jobs with Lamar
Caida Libre	After an unpaid job, Trevor kidnaps Madrazo’s wife Patricia
Derailed	Trevor and Michael lie low in Blaine County while Michael presses Trevor to return Patricia

GTA 5 heists 2 and 3: The Merryweather Heist and Blitz Play

Trevor wants to rob anything Merryweather guards, and the FIB wants the trio working against the IAA, a competing agency. These two jobs cover both.

Mission	Characters	Goal
Scouting the Port	Trevor, Michael	Case the Merryweather shipment at the port
The Merryweather Heist	Trevor, Michael	Steal the Merryweather cargo; it goes badly
Minor Turbulence	Trevor	Another hit on Merryweather that fails
Three’s Company	All three	The first FIB operation forced on Michael by Dave Norton and Steve Haines
By the Book	Trevor, Michael	An FIB interrogation mission that ends with Steve introducing Devin Weston
Blitz Play	All three	Hit an armored car carrying IAA money, under Steve’s direction

GTA 5 heist 4: The Paleto Score

The Paleto Score sends all three protagonists after the bank in Paleto Bay, a small town at the north end of Blaine County.

Stage	What to expect
Planning	Lester sets up the job with the trio and a hired gunman from the crew list
Setup missions	Gather the gear and vehicles the plan needs before the finale unlocks
The robbery	All three protagonists take part, switching as the fight moves
Escape	A long running gunfight with police; crew skill decides how much money survives
Payout	The take is split between the trio and any surviving crew

GTA 5 heist 5: The Bureau Raid and the run-up to the finale

This stretch closes Michael’s deal with the FIB and turns Trevor against him.

Mission or job	What happens
IAA lab raid	The trio steals an experimental nerve agent from an IAA lab for Steve
I Fought the Law… and Pack Man	Devin Weston has the trio steal rare cars, then cheats them out of the money
The Bureau Raid	Michael and Franklin break into the FIB building; Michael wipes his own file and Steve’s leverage
Bury the Hatchet	Trevor finds Brad’s body in Michael’s grave in Ludendorff and learns the 2004 job was a setup
The Wrap Up	Michael and Dave are caught in a standoff between the FIB, the IAA and Merryweather; Trevor saves them
Finale Intro	The crew plans the Union Depository job

GTA 5 heist 6: The Big Score and the ending choice

The Big Score is the raid on the Union Depository’s gold reserve. After it succeeds, Steve and Dave ask Franklin to kill Trevor, Devin asks him to kill Michael, and the game offers a third option.

Choose option C, Deathwish, on your main save. It is the only ending that keeps Michael, Franklin and Trevor alive and playable after the credits, and it closes every villain’s story; options A and B each remove a protagonist and end Franklin’s friendship with the survivor.

GTA 5 final missions for each ending

Option	Final mission	What happens	After the credits
A: Kill Trevor	Something Sensible	Franklin chases Trevor to an oil plant and Trevor dies in a fire	Trevor is gone; Franklin and Michael drift apart
B: Kill Michael	The Time’s Come	Franklin kills Michael; Trevor refuses to help and cuts ties with Franklin	Michael is gone; Trevor stays hostile to Franklin
C: Deathwish	The Third Way	The trio, with Lamar and Lester, hold off the FIB and Merryweather, then kill Cheng, Stretch, Steve and Devin	All three stay playable and can still hang out together

How to play all three GTA 5 endings

You only get one ending per save, so protect your main file before Franklin decides.

1. Finish The Big Score and stop before taking Franklin’s final call or choice.
2. Go to a safehouse, sleep in the bed and save to a new, unused slot.
3. Load that slot and play Something Sensible (option A) through the credits.
4. Reload the backup slot and play The Time’s Come (option B).
5. Reload the backup slot again, play The Third Way (option C) and keep that save as your main file.
6. After any ending, use the replay option for the final mission to watch the others again without touching your save.

On PC, also copy the save folder somewhere safe first; backing up your GTA 5 saves takes a minute.

How to replay missions in GTA 5

Completed story missions and Strangers and Freaks missions can be replayed from the pause menu, which is how you pick up missed gold medals.

1. Press Esc on PC, Options on PlayStation or Menu on Xbox to open the pause menu.
2. Open the Game tab.
3. Select Replay Mission or Replay Strangers and Freaks.
4. Pick the mission from the list; the gold medal objectives are listed before it starts.
5. Play the mission; your story save is restored when the replay ends, with any new medal kept.

Lester’s assassination missions in GTA 5

Lester sends Franklin on a set of assassination contracts whose targets are tied to companies on the in-game stock market. The payout depends on how you invest around each hit.

Leave Lester’s contracts until after The Big Score, then invest each character’s money before each hit. The finale pays far more than anything before it, so the same stock moves turn into much larger gains when you buy the right stocks around each contract.

Strangers and Freaks and other GTA 5 side missions

Side content is where most of the 100% checklist sits. These are the long tails Rockstar tracks with their own Steam achievements.

Side activity	Goal	Matching achievement
Epsilon Program	Finish the Epsilon program	Kifflom!
Spaceship parts	Collect and return all spaceship parts	From Beyond the Stars
Nuclear waste	Buy the old dock and collect all nuclear waste	Waste Management
Leonora Johnson	Solve the mystery of Leonora Johnson	A Mystery, Solved
Altruist Cult	Deliver a victim to the Altruist Cult	Altruist Acolyte
Bail bonds	Deliver a bail bond target alive	Wanted: Alive Or Alive
Downtown Cab Co.	Buy the cab company and complete a private fare	All’s Fare in Love and War
McKenzie Field Hangar	Buy the hangar and win the arms race	TP Industries Arms Race
Rampages	Complete every Rampage	Red Mist
Stunt jumps	Complete every Stunt Jump	Show Off
Under the Bridge and Knife Flight	Complete every bridge and knife-flight challenge	Close Shave

GTA 5 100% completion checklist

100% completion unlocks the Career Criminal achievement, which only about 6% of Steam players have. Work through it in this order so nothing locks you out.

Category	What to finish	Tip
Story missions	Every story mission up to and including your ending	Pick option C so all three characters stay available for leftovers
Strangers and Freaks	Every question-mark mission for all three characters	Some only appear after story progress, so check the map after each chapter
Random events	Enough free-roam encounters to fill the category	Drive around Blaine County as each character
Hobbies and pastimes	Races, flight school, sports and other activities	Gold medals in all of them unlock Multi-Disciplined
Miscellaneous	Collectibles, properties and one-off tasks	The side activities table above covers the long ones
Exploration	Explore all of Los Santos and Blaine County	Unlocks San Andreas Sightseer

For the exploration and collectible runs, plan routes by every area and landmark on the map rather than driving at random.

How to check your GTA 5 completion progress

1. Open the pause menu and select the Stats tab.
2. Open the 100% Completion checklist to see each category’s progress.
3. Look for missions with a missing gold medal and note them for Replay Mission.
4. On Steam, open the game’s Achievements page and confirm Career Criminal and Solid Gold, Baby! when you finish.

Fix GTA 5 missions not showing up on the map

No story mission icons on the map

The next mission belongs to another character or is waiting on a phone call.

1. Switch through all three characters and check each one’s map.
2. Lose any wanted level; missions do not start while police are chasing you.
3. Let some in-game time pass, or sleep at a safehouse, to trigger the next call or text.

A mission icon is there but the mission will not start

Many missions only start at certain times of day or with a specific character.

1. Check the letter on the icon and switch to that character.
2. Wait until the time shown on the mission marker, or skip time by sleeping.
3. Leave any vehicle the mission does not allow and walk into the marker.

A Strangers and Freaks mission is missing

Some only unlock after a story chapter or another side mission.

1. Finish the next story mission and check the map again.
2. Complete the earlier missions from the same stranger first.
3. Use Replay Strangers and Freaks to see which ones you have already done.

GTA 5 side content to play after the credits

After the final mission the game returns you to free roam with every surviving character. This is the best time for side content and money.

1. Play Lester’s assassination contracts and invest around them.
2. Finish the remaining Strangers and Freaks and hobbies.
3. Buy properties such as Downtown Cab Co. and McKenzie Field Hangar to open their missions.
4. Replay story missions for any gold medals you missed.
5. Open the 100% Completion checklist and clear what is left.

Expect the leftovers to add many hours on top of how long the story takes. Players moving from PS4 or Xbox One can bring their progress along with a one-time save transfer.

Frequently asked questions

How many missions are in GTA 5?

Rockstar has not published an official total. The game’s own target for medal hunters is 70 gold medals across story missions and Strangers and Freaks, and each save only includes one of the three ending missions.

What is the first mission in GTA 5?

The first mission is Prologue, set in Ludendorff, North Yankton, in 2004. Michael, Trevor and Brad’s robbery goes wrong, Michael is presumed dead, and the story then jumps nine years ahead to Los Santos.

What is the last mission in GTA 5?

The last mission depends on Franklin’s choice after The Big Score: Something Sensible (kill Trevor), The Time’s Come (kill Michael) or The Third Way (Deathwish, save both). Only one is played per save.

What is the best ending in GTA 5?

The Third Way, option C, is the best ending for most players. It keeps all three protagonists alive and playable, finishes off the story’s villains, and leaves every side mission available for 100% completion.

Can you replay missions in GTA 5?

Yes. Open the pause menu, go to the Game tab and select Replay Mission or Replay Strangers and Freaks. Replays do not change your story save, but any new gold medal is kept.

What is the first heist in GTA 5?

The Jewel Store Job is the first heist. Michael and Franklin rob a jewellery store with Lester’s help to pay Martin Madrazo, and you choose between a smart and a loud approach.

What are the Kifflom missions in GTA 5?

Kifflom missions are the Epsilon Program side missions, played as Michael. Finishing the whole program unlocks the Kifflom! achievement, which only a small share of players earn.

Do you need to finish the story for 100% completion?

Yes. Every story mission up to your chosen ending counts toward 100% completion, alongside Strangers and Freaks, random events, hobbies and pastimes, and miscellaneous tasks.

How do you see all GTA 5 endings without replaying the game?

Save to a spare slot after The Big Score, play one ending, then reload and play the next. After finishing, the final missions can also be replayed from the pause menu.

Best GTA 5 mission route to 100% completion

Play the story in whatever order the map offers, save a spare slot before the final choice, and finish on The Third Way. That route lets you see all three endings, keeps every character for Lester’s contracts and side missions, and leaves only medal replays and checklist items between you and Career Criminal. It is also worth finishing before the sequel arrives, given what changes in GTA 6.