The fair place to meet is Detroit, MI — the city closest to the midpoint of Minneapolis and New York. From the farther side that’s about 11 hr 22 min of driving.
Recommended midpoint
Detroit, MI
From Minneapolis
11 hr 22 min
542 mi to Detroit
From New York
10 hr 5 min
481 mi to Detroit
New York has the shorter trip; the split is off by about 1 hr 17 min. The alternatives below can even it out. Minneapolis and New York are about 1,016 miles apart.
Minneapolis and New York are about 1,016 miles apart by road. Split the difference and you arrive near Detroit, the city closest to the halfway point between them. That puts roughly 11 hr 22 min of driving on the Minneapolis side and 10 hr 5 min on the New York 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. Detroit still makes a fair, central place for Minneapolis and New York to converge, splitting the travel instead of asking one side to cross the country.
If Detroit doesn't have what you're after, Cleveland and Columbus are also close to the midpoint and worth a look — each keeps the drive reasonably balanced between Minneapolis and New York.
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 →
Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 census, it is the state's most populous city. Read more →
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States. It is located at the southern tip of New York State on New York Harbor, one of the world's largest natural harbors. 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.