The fair place to meet is Richmond, VA — the city closest to the midpoint of Raleigh and Washington. From the farther side that’s about 3 hr 28 min of driving.
Recommended midpoint
Richmond, VA
From Raleigh
3 hr 28 min
139 mi to Richmond
From Washington
2 hr 25 min
97 mi to Richmond
Washington has the shorter trip; the split is off by about 1 hr 3 min. The alternatives below can even it out. Raleigh and Washington are about 233 miles apart.
Raleigh and Washington are about 233 miles apart by road. Split the difference and you arrive near Richmond, the city closest to the halfway point between them. That puts roughly 3 hr 28 min of driving on the Raleigh side and 2 hr 25 min on the Washington side — the fairest single meeting point among the cities near the middle.
At this range, Richmond works for a same-day meetup: close enough from both Raleigh and Washington to meet for lunch or an afternoon and still be home by evening.
If Richmond doesn't have what you're after, Charlotte and Philadelphia are also close to the midpoint and worth a look — each keeps the drive reasonably balanced between Raleigh and Washington.
Richmond is the capital city of the U.S. state of Virginia. Incorporated in 1742, Richmond has been an independent city since 1871. It is the fourth-most populous city in Virginia, with a population of 226,610 at the 2020 census. Read more →
Raleigh is the capital city of the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the second-most populous city in the state, tenth most populous city in the Southeast, the largest city in the Research Triangle area, and the 39th-most populous city in the U.S. 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.