MidRally

Meet halfway between Boston and Denver

The fair place to meet is Chicago, IL — the city closest to the midpoint of Boston and Denver. From the farther side that’s about 19 hr 15 min of driving.

Chicago, IL
Chicago, IL — the midpoint Photo: File:Chicago River ferry.jpg: John Picken derivative work: Geor… / CC BY 2.0 · Commons

Recommended midpoint

Chicago, IL

From Boston

17 hr 48 min

849 mi to Chicago

From Denver

19 hr 15 min

918 mi to Chicago

Boston has the shorter trip; the split is off by about 1 hr 27 min. The alternatives below can even it out. Boston and Denver are about 1,766 miles apart.

More meetups from Boston

More meetups from Denver

Meeting in Chicago

Boston and Denver are about 1,766 miles apart by road. Split the difference and you arrive near Chicago, the city closest to the halfway point between them. That puts roughly 17 hr 48 min of driving on the Boston side and 19 hr 15 min on the Denver 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. Chicago still makes a fair, central place for Boston and Denver to converge, splitting the travel instead of asking one side to cross the country.

If Chicago doesn't have what you're after, Indianapolis and Milwaukee are also close to the midpoint and worth a look — each keeps the drive reasonably balanced between Boston and Denver.

About the cities

Chicago · the midpoint

Chicago is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the third-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 2.74 million at the 2020 census. Read more →

Boston

Boston is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Massachusetts. It serves as a cultural and financial center of New England, a region of the Northeastern United States. Read more →

Denver

Denver is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Officially a consolidated city and county, it is located in the South Platte River valley on the western edge of the High Plains, and is just east of the Front Range of the Rocky… Read more →

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

Questions

Where is the halfway point between Boston and Denver?
Chicago, IL is closest to the geographic midpoint, which makes it the fairest place to meet.
How far apart are they?
About 1,766 miles by road.
How long is the drive to meet in the middle?
Roughly 19 hr 15 min from the farther city to Chicago.

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