The fair place to meet is Dallas-Fort Worth, TX — the city closest to the midpoint of Albuquerque and New Orleans. From the farther side that’s about 12 hr 18 min of driving.
Recommended midpoint
Dallas-Fort Worth, TX
From Albuquerque
12 hr 18 min
587 mi to Dallas
From New Orleans
9 hr 16 min
442 mi to Dallas
New Orleans has the shorter trip; the split is off by about 3 hr 2 min. The alternatives below can even it out. Albuquerque and New Orleans are about 1,027 miles apart.
Albuquerque and New Orleans are about 1,027 miles apart by road. Split the difference and you arrive near Dallas, the city closest to the halfway point between them. That puts roughly 12 hr 18 min of driving on the Albuquerque side and 9 hr 16 min on the New Orleans 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. Dallas still makes a fair, central place for Albuquerque and New Orleans to converge, splitting the travel instead of asking one side to cross the country.
If Dallas doesn't have what you're after, Austin and Oklahoma City are also close to the midpoint and worth a look — each keeps the drive reasonably balanced between Albuquerque and New Orleans.
Dallas is a city in the U.S. state of Texas. Located in the state's northern region, it is the ninth-most populous city in the United States and third-most populous city in Texas, with a population of 1.3 million at the 2020 census. 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 →
New Orleans is a consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. 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.