Birmingham · the midpoint
Birmingham is a city in the north central region of Alabama, United States. It is the third-most populous city in the state, with an estimated population of 196,357 as of 2024. Read more →
The fair place to meet is Birmingham, AL — the city closest to the midpoint of Houston and Washington. From the farther side that’s about 13 hr 49 min of driving.
Recommended midpoint
Birmingham, AL
From Houston
11 hr 52 min
566 mi to Birmingham
From Washington
13 hr 49 min
659 mi to Birmingham
Houston has the shorter trip; the split is off by about 1 hr 57 min. The alternatives below can even it out. Houston and Washington are about 1,219 miles apart.
Houston and Washington are about 1,219 miles apart by road. Split the difference and you arrive near Birmingham, the city closest to the halfway point between them. That puts roughly 11 hr 52 min of driving on the Houston side and 13 hr 49 min on the Washington 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. Birmingham still makes a fair, central place for Houston and Washington to converge, splitting the travel instead of asking one side to cross the country.
If Birmingham doesn't have what you're after, Atlanta and Nashville are also close to the midpoint and worth a look — each keeps the drive reasonably balanced between Houston and Washington.
Birmingham is a city in the north central region of Alabama, United States. It is the third-most populous city in the state, with an estimated population of 196,357 as of 2024. Read more →
Houston is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and the Southern United States. It is the fourth-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 2.3 million at the 2020 census. Read more →
Washington, D.C., officially the District of Columbia and commonly known as simply Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. 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.