The fair place to meet is Cleveland, OH — the city closest to the midpoint of Columbus and Detroit. From the farther side that’s about 3 hr 9 min of driving.
Recommended midpoint
Cleveland, OH
From Columbus
3 hr 9 min
126 mi to Cleveland
From Detroit
2 hr 15 min
90 mi to Cleveland
Detroit has the shorter trip; the split is off by about 54 min. The alternatives below can even it out. Columbus and Detroit are about 164 miles apart.
Columbus and Detroit are about 164 miles apart by road. Split the difference and you arrive near Cleveland, the city closest to the halfway point between them. That puts roughly 3 hr 9 min of driving on the Columbus side and 2 hr 15 min on the Detroit side — the fairest single meeting point among the cities near the middle.
At this range, Cleveland works for a same-day meetup: close enough from both Columbus and Detroit to meet for lunch or an afternoon and still be home by evening.
If Cleveland 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 Columbus and Detroit.
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 →
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 →
Detroit is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from the Canadian city of Windsor, Ontario. It is the 26th-most populous city in the United States and the largest U.S. 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.