The fair place to meet is Columbus, OH — the city closest to the midpoint of Atlanta and Buffalo. From the farther side that’s about 9 hr 9 min of driving.
Recommended midpoint
Columbus, OH
From Atlanta
9 hr 9 min
436 mi to Columbus
From Buffalo
6 hr 10 min
294 mi to Columbus
Buffalo has the shorter trip; the split is off by about 2 hr 59 min. The alternatives below can even it out. Atlanta and Buffalo are about 698 miles apart.
Atlanta and Buffalo are about 698 miles apart by road. Split the difference and you arrive near Columbus, the city closest to the halfway point between them. That puts roughly 9 hr 9 min of driving on the Atlanta side and 6 hr 10 min on the Buffalo side — the fairest single meeting point among the cities near the middle.
That's a half-day drive from each side, so Columbus suits an overnight or a weekend rather than a quick coffee — long enough to want a reason to stay, short enough to drive.
If Columbus doesn't have what you're after, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh are also close to the midpoint and worth a look — each keeps the drive reasonably balanced between Atlanta and Buffalo.
Columbus is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a population of 905,748 at the 2020 census, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., second-most populous city in the Midwest, and third-most populous U.S. state capital. Read more →
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the county seat of Fulton County and extends into neighboring DeKalb County. Read more →
Buffalo is a city in the U.S. state of New York. It lies in Western New York on the eastern shore of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River on the Canada–United States border. 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.