The fair place to meet is Kansas City, MO — the city closest to the midpoint of Albuquerque and Cleveland. From the farther side that’s about 15 hr 6 min of driving.
Recommended midpoint
Kansas City, MO
From Albuquerque
15 hr 6 min
720 mi to Kansas City
From Cleveland
14 hr 38 min
698 mi to Kansas City
Cleveland has the shorter trip; the split is off by about 28 min. The alternatives below can even it out. Albuquerque and Cleveland are about 1,418 miles apart.
Albuquerque and Cleveland are about 1,418 miles apart by road. Split the difference and you arrive near Kansas City, the city closest to the halfway point between them. That puts roughly 15 hr 6 min of driving on the Albuquerque side and 14 hr 38 min on the Cleveland side — the fairest single meeting point among the cities near the middle.
Over this distance most people will fly rather than drive the whole way. Kansas City still makes a fair, central place for Albuquerque and Cleveland to converge, splitting the travel instead of asking one side to cross the country.
If Kansas City doesn't have what you're after, Omaha and Oklahoma City are also close to the midpoint and worth a look — each keeps the drive reasonably balanced between Albuquerque and Cleveland.
Kansas City, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by both population and area. It is located on the Missouri River at its confluence with the Kansas River, within Jackson, Clay, Platte and Cass counties. Read more →
Albuquerque is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Founded in 1706 as La Villa de Alburquerque by Santa Fe de Nuevo México governor Francisco Cuervo y Valdés, and named in honor of Francisco Fernández de la Cueva, 10th Duke of Alburquerque… Read more →
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the lake from Ontario, Canada, and is approximately 60 miles west of the Ohio–Pennsylvania state line. Read more →
City descriptions adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA); photos via Wikimedia Commons, credited above.
Estimates use straight-line distance and typical road speeds; real drive times vary with route and traffic.