Salt Lake City · the midpoint
Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. Read more →
The fair place to meet is Salt Lake City, UT — the city closest to the midpoint of Albuquerque and Portland. From the farther side that’s about 13 hr 18 min of driving.
Recommended midpoint
Salt Lake City, UT
From Albuquerque
10 hr 10 min
485 mi to Salt Lake City
From Portland
13 hr 18 min
635 mi to Salt Lake City
Albuquerque has the shorter trip; the split is off by about 3 hr 8 min. The alternatives below can even it out. Albuquerque and Portland are about 1,107 miles apart.
Albuquerque and Portland are about 1,107 miles apart by road. Split the difference and you arrive near Salt Lake City, the city closest to the halfway point between them. That puts roughly 10 hr 10 min of driving on the Albuquerque side and 13 hr 18 min on the Portland 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. Salt Lake City still makes a fair, central place for Albuquerque and Portland to converge, splitting the travel instead of asking one side to cross the country.
If Salt Lake City doesn't have what you're after, Boise and Las Vegas are also close to the midpoint and worth a look — each keeps the drive reasonably balanced between Albuquerque and Portland.
Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. 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 →
Portland is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Located in the Pacific Northwest at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, it is the 28th-most populous city in the United States, sixth-most populous on the West Coast, and… 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.