Salt Lake City · the midpoint
Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. Read more →
Meet halfway between Kansas City and Portland
The fair place to meet is Salt Lake City, UT — the city closest to the midpoint of Kansas City and Portland. From the farther side that’s about 19 hr 21 min of driving.
Recommended midpoint
Salt Lake City, UT
From Kansas City
19 hr 21 min
923 mi to Salt Lake City
From Portland
13 hr 18 min
635 mi to Salt Lake City
Portland has the shorter trip; the split is off by about 6 hr 3 min. The alternatives below can even it out. Kansas City and Portland are about 1,494 miles apart.
More meetups from Kansas City
Meeting in Salt Lake City
Kansas City and Portland are about 1,494 miles apart by road. Split the difference and you arrive near Salt Lake City, the city closest to the halfway point between them. That puts roughly 19 hr 21 min of driving on the Kansas City side and 13 hr 18 min on the Portland 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. Salt Lake City still makes a fair, central place for Kansas City and Portland to converge, splitting the travel instead of asking one side to cross the country.
If Salt Lake City doesn't have what you're after, Denver and Boise are also close to the midpoint and worth a look — each keeps the drive reasonably balanced between Kansas City and Portland.
About the cities
Kansas City
Kansas City, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by both population and area. It is located on the Missouri River at its confluence with the Kansas River, within Jackson, Clay, Platte and Cass counties. Read more →
Portland
Portland is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Located in the Pacific Northwest at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, it is the 28th-most populous city in the United States, sixth-most populous on the West Coast, and… Read more →
City descriptions adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA); photos via Wikimedia Commons, credited above.
Questions
- Where is the halfway point between Kansas City and Portland?
- Salt Lake City, UT is closest to the geographic midpoint, which makes it the fairest place to meet.
- How far apart are they?
- About 1,494 miles by road.
- How long is the drive to meet in the middle?
- Roughly 19 hr 21 min from the farther city to Salt Lake City.
Estimates use straight-line distance and typical road speeds; real drive times vary with route and traffic.