Nashville · the midpoint
Nashville is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, located on the Cumberland River. Read more →
The fair place to meet is Nashville, TN — the city closest to the midpoint of Cleveland and New Orleans. From the farther side that’s about 9 hr 51 min of driving.
Recommended midpoint
Nashville, TN
From Cleveland
9 hr 38 min
459 mi to Nashville
From New Orleans
9 hr 51 min
469 mi to Nashville
That’s an even split — both sides drive within 13 min of each other. Cleveland and New Orleans are about 925 miles apart.
Cleveland and New Orleans are about 925 miles apart by road. Split the difference and you arrive near Nashville, the city closest to the halfway point between them. That splits the trip almost evenly — about 9 hr 38 min from Cleveland and 9 hr 51 min from New Orleans.
Over this distance most people will fly rather than drive the whole way. Nashville still makes a fair, central place for Cleveland and New Orleans to converge, splitting the travel instead of asking one side to cross the country.
If Nashville doesn't have what you're after, Atlanta and Birmingham are also close to the midpoint and worth a look — each keeps the drive reasonably balanced between Cleveland and New Orleans.
Nashville is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, located on the Cumberland River. Read more →
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the lake from Ontario, Canada, and is approximately 60 miles west of the Ohio–Pennsylvania state line. Read more →
New Orleans is a consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. 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.