The fair place to meet is Kansas City, MO — the city closest to the midpoint of Philadelphia and Phoenix. From the farther side that’s about 21 hr 58 min of driving.
Recommended midpoint
Kansas City, MO
From Philadelphia
21 hr 41 min
1,034 mi to Kansas City
From Phoenix
21 hr 58 min
1,048 mi to Kansas City
That’s an even split — both sides drive within 17 min of each other. Philadelphia and Phoenix are about 2,078 miles apart.
Philadelphia and Phoenix are about 2,078 miles apart by road. Split the difference and you arrive near Kansas City, the city closest to the halfway point between them. That splits the trip almost evenly — about 21 hr 41 min from Philadelphia and 21 hr 58 min from Phoenix.
Over this distance most people will fly rather than drive the whole way. Kansas City still makes a fair, central place for Philadelphia and Phoenix to converge, splitting the travel instead of asking one side to cross the country.
If Kansas City doesn't have what you're after, Memphis and Oklahoma City are also close to the midpoint and worth a look — each keeps the drive reasonably balanced between Philadelphia and Phoenix.
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 →
Philadelphia, colloquially referred to as Philly, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the sixth-most populous city in the United States. Its population was 1.60 million at the 2020 census and estimated at 1.57 million in 2025. Read more →
Phoenix is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, Phoenix is the fifth-most populous city in the United States and the most populous state capital. 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.