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 →
Meet halfway between Austin and Portland
The fair place to meet is Salt Lake City, UT — the city closest to the midpoint of Austin and Portland. From the farther side that’s about 22 hr 31 min of driving.
Recommended midpoint
Salt Lake City, UT
From Austin
22 hr 31 min
1,074 mi to Salt Lake City
From Portland
13 hr 18 min
635 mi to Salt Lake City
Portland has the shorter trip; the split is off by about 9 hr 13 min. The alternatives below can even it out. Austin and Portland are about 1,708 miles apart.
More meetups from Austin
Meeting in Salt Lake City
Austin and Portland are about 1,708 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 22 hr 31 min of driving on the Austin 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 Austin 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, Albuquerque and Las Vegas are also close to the midpoint and worth a look — each keeps the drive reasonably balanced between Austin and Portland.
About the cities
Austin
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. With a population of 961,855 at the 2020 census, it is the 12th-most populous city in the U.S., fifth-most populous city in Texas, and second-most populous U.S. Read more →
Portland
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.
Questions
- Where is the halfway point between Austin and Portland?
- Salt Lake City, UT is closest to the geographic midpoint, which makes it the fairest place to meet.
- How far apart are they?
- About 1,708 miles by road.
- How long is the drive to meet in the middle?
- Roughly 22 hr 31 min from the farther city to Salt Lake City.
Estimates use straight-line distance and typical road speeds; real drive times vary with route and traffic.