For a group split between both coasts, Denver is the central US city where the total distance everyone flies is lowest, and Kansas City is the one where the longest flight is shortest. From Seattle, the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Boston, New York and Miami, the six nonstop (no change of plane) flights to Denver add up to about 7,830 miles, against about 7,920 to Kansas City. The longest of the six is about 1,750 miles to Denver, from Boston, and about 1,490 miles to Kansas City, from the Bay Area.
The figures come from Midway’s route data as of October 2026, which covers the next twelve months of schedules for the 600 busiest airports. Each route in the data has a distance and, for every month it runs, a scheduled flight time. This page ranks by distance, because it is fixed, while flight times change by month and by direction of travel.
The group, the candidates and the measure
The group is six metros, three on each coast, from the corners and the middle of each: Seattle, the Bay Area (SFO, Oakland and San José), Los Angeles (LAX, Burbank, Orange County and Ontario), Boston, New York (JFK, LaGuardia and Newark) and Miami with Fort Lauderdale. Six is the most departure cities a Midway search takes, and a group at both edges of the country is the case where a central city has to do the most work. Destinations are pooled the same way, so Chicago is O’Hare and Midway and Dallas is DFW and Love Field.
A candidate is any US city that all six reach nonstop in at least one month, which is the rule a Midway search applies. That gives 30 cities, and 27 of them have a nonstop from all six in every month from October 2026 to April 2027. The ranking below keeps those 27, because a city that needs a connection for someone is not a meeting point in Midway’s sense. The other three are covered under seasonal options.
The measure is the total of the six route distances, taking for each metro the closest of its airports with a nonstop. A low total can hide one very long flight, so the table also gives the longest single leg and the longest flight time, as a check on how evenly the travel is shared. The total is not the geographic midpoint of the group, which often has no destination both cities reach nonstop anywhere near it, as the guide to the geographic midpoint between two cities shows for six pairs.
Central US cities ranked by total distance
| Rank | City | Total distance (mi) | Longest leg (mi) | Longest flight |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Denver | 7,830 | 1,750 (Boston) | 4h45 (Boston) |
| 2 | Kansas City | 7,920 | 1,490 (Bay Area) | 3h40 (Boston) |
| 3 | Salt Lake City | 7,970 | 2,100 (Boston) | 5h35 (Boston) |
| 4 | Chicago | 7,970 | 1,820 (Bay Area) | 4h05 (Bay Area) |
| 5 | St. Louis | 7,980 | 1,730 (Bay Area) | 4h00 (Bay Area) |
| 6 | Indianapolis | 8,070 | 1,940 (Bay Area) | 4h35 (Bay Area) |
| 7 | Minneapolis | 8,090 | 1,570 (Bay Area) | 3h55 (Miami) |
| 8 | Cincinnati | 8,130 | 2,030 (Bay Area) | 4h40 (Bay Area) |
| 9 | Nashville | 8,140 | 1,970 (Seattle) | 4h25 (Seattle) |
| 10 | Columbus | 8,180 | 2,110 (Bay Area) | 4h55 (Bay Area) |
Sum of the six route distances from Seattle, the Bay Area, Los Angeles, Boston, New York and Miami, from the closest airport of each metro with a nonstop, in Midway’s route data as of October 2026. Cities with a nonstop from all six in every month from October 2026 to April 2027. Distances are rounded to the nearest 10 miles and ranked on the unrounded figures. Flight times are the typical fastest scheduled nonstop from any airport of each city (the median across the months the route runs), rounded to 5 minutes.
Denver and Kansas City
Denver leads on total because three of the six are close to it. Seattle, the Bay Area and Los Angeles are about 820 to 1,020 miles away, with flights of about 2h20 to 2h50. Boston, New York and Miami are about 1,600 to 1,750 miles away, at about 4h30 to 4h45. The total is low, but half the group flies about two hours longer than the other half.
Kansas City is about 1,090 to 1,490 miles from all six, and every flight is about 3h10 to 3h40, all year. Its total is about 90 miles more than Denver’s, or about 15 miles per traveler, and its longest flight is about an hour shorter. For a group where nobody should spend the day on a plane while the others check in, Kansas City is probably the simpler choice. How Denver compares with the other central hubs on reach from the rest of the US is in Denver as an offsite city for distributed teams.
The Midway Point (the shared destination Midway marks as the fairest by distance) for this group is Omaha, on a thin basis. Midway scores each shared city by its average distance plus one and a half times the largest gap from that average, so one long or one short leg costs more than in a plain total. Boston’s only Omaha nonstop in the data is a Delta flight listed for April 2027, so with any other month selected in Midway’s month filter the Midway Point moves to Kansas City.
Close totals in the middle of the country
The first five cities are within about 150 miles of each other on total distance, from about 7,830 for Denver to about 7,980 for St. Louis. Spread over six travelers, that is about 25 miles each, so the total alone barely separates them. The longest leg does: about 1,490 miles for Kansas City, 1,730 for St. Louis, 1,750 for Denver, 1,820 for Chicago and 2,100 for Salt Lake City.
Salt Lake City shows how a low total can hide an uneven split. It is third on total because the three West Coast cities are about 560 to 690 miles away, with flights of about 2h05 or less. The East Coast three fly about 5h15 to 5h35. Dallas works the other way: it ranks 14th of the 27 on total, but its longest leg, about 1,660 miles from Seattle, is the third shortest after Kansas City and Minneapolis.
Which cities make the shared list at all is a question of reach rather than distance. US cities with nonstop flights from both coasts ranks cities by how many of 14 coastal cities fly to them. If your group includes smaller airports, the shared list shrinks to mostly hubs, which the guide to airline hubs and the cities a group can reach nonstop works through.
When the group is not split evenly
The lowest total follows where the people live, not the middle of the map. Swap the Bay Area and Boston for Chicago and Dallas, so the group is Seattle, Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Chicago and Dallas, and St. Louis has the lowest total, about 6,000 miles, with Kansas City second at about 6,040. Denver drops to 10th of 29 cities, because four of the six now live east of it.
For a group that leans east, Seattle, Los Angeles, Boston, Washington, Atlanta and Miami, the lowest total is Nashville, about 6,200 miles, then Charlotte, about 6,250. Denver is 22nd of 28. Kansas City is only 13th on total for this group, but it again has the shortest longest leg, about 1,480 miles from Seattle. In the Chicago and Dallas group, only Omaha has a shorter longest leg than Kansas City.
So if the group’s home cities are not settled yet, Kansas City is probably the safer central default, and the total-distance pick is worth recomputing once they are. The friend group spread across the US guide finds the same pattern for three groups of four, and where to meet from New York, Chicago and Los Angeles does it for three cities.
See what Seattle, Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Chicago and Dallas share in a given month
Seasonal options
Three of the 30 shared cities do not run every month. Omaha is second on total, about 7,910 miles, with the longest leg about 1,430 miles from the Bay Area, but all six cities reach it only in April 2027. Hayden (for Steamboat Springs) is a winter route, shared by all six from January to March 2027, with a longest flight of about 5h05 from Fort Lauderdale. The third is Portland, shared from November to April, which as a West Coast city is not a central option.
“Every month” stops at April 2027 on this page. In the data, Frontier, Sun Country and Avelo schedules end after April 2027, Allegiant and Breeze after May, and Southwest after August, which is more likely schedules not loaded yet than routes ending. All ten cities in the table are listed from all six in every month to September 2027 anyway.
Before choosing on distance
Distance settles who flies how far. It does not settle fares from six airports or the hour each flight lands, and for a group with members in three or four time zones those usually decide between the first two or three cities. Enter your group’s departure cities in Midway to see every destination all of them reach nonstop, with the distance and flight time from each.