MidRally

Meet halfway between Houston and Washington

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.

Birmingham, AL
Birmingham, AL — the midpoint Photo: Quintin Soloviev / CC BY 4.0 · Commons

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.

More meetups from Houston

More meetups from Washington

Meeting in Birmingham

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.

About the cities

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 →

Houston

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

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.

Questions

Where is the halfway point between Houston and Washington?
Birmingham, AL is closest to the geographic midpoint, which makes it the fairest place to meet.
How far apart are they?
About 1,219 miles by road.
How long is the drive to meet in the middle?
Roughly 13 hr 49 min from the farther city to Birmingham.

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