MidRally

Meet halfway between Anchorage and El Paso

The fair place to meet is Portland, OR — the city closest to the midpoint of Anchorage and El Paso. From the farther side that’s about 32 hr 17 min of driving.

Portland, OR
Portland, OR — the midpoint Photo: Spicypepper999 / CC0 · Commons

Recommended midpoint

Portland, OR

From Anchorage

32 hr 17 min

1,540 mi to Portland

From El Paso

26 hr 58 min

1,286 mi to Portland

El Paso has the shorter trip; the split is off by about 5 hr 19 min. The alternatives below can even it out. Anchorage and El Paso are about 2,809 miles apart.

More meetups from Anchorage

More meetups from El Paso

Meeting in Portland

Anchorage and El Paso are about 2,809 miles apart by road. Split the difference and you arrive near Portland, the city closest to the halfway point between them. That puts roughly 32 hr 17 min of driving on the Anchorage side and 26 hr 58 min on the El Paso 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. Portland still makes a fair, central place for Anchorage and El Paso to converge, splitting the travel instead of asking one side to cross the country.

If Portland doesn't have what you're after, Seattle and Boise are also close to the midpoint and worth a look — each keeps the drive reasonably balanced between Anchorage and El Paso.

About the cities

Portland · the midpoint

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 →

Anchorage

Anchorage, officially the Municipality of Anchorage, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Alaska. With a population of 291,247 at the 2020 census, it contains nearly 40 percent of the state's population. Read more →

El Paso

El Paso is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. It is the 22nd-most populous city in the U.S., sixth-most populous city in Texas, and the most populous city in West Texas with a population of 678,815 at the 2020 census. Read more →

City descriptions adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA); photos via Wikimedia Commons, credited above.

Questions

Where is the halfway point between Anchorage and El Paso?
Portland, OR is closest to the geographic midpoint, which makes it the fairest place to meet.
How far apart are they?
About 2,809 miles by road.
How long is the drive to meet in the middle?
Roughly 32 hr 17 min from the farther city to Portland.

Estimates use straight-line distance and typical road speeds; real drive times vary with route and traffic.