Qibla Direction in Portland, Oregon

How to face the Qibla in Portland

1. With your phone: tap Open the live Qibla compass, allow location (and, on iPhone, motion access), then turn slowly until the Kaaba on the dial reaches the mark at the top.
2. With a regular compass: hold it flat, turn it until the needle sits on N, then face 3.0° on the dial. That is the magnetic bearing; reading 17.5° off a magnetic compass would leave you about 14.5° off.
3. With the map: open the live compass, switch to Map and follow the gold line from your position to the Kaaba. It does not use the compass at all.

If a phone compass looks wrong, move the phone in a figure-eight a few times, away from laptops, speakers, car dashboards and magnetic cases, and hold it flat while you turn.

Why the Qibla from Portland points north-northeast

From Portland the Qibla is north-northeast, closer to north than anywhere on the East Coast. A straight line on a Mercator map points 100°, east, but the great circle, the shortest path over the globe, leaves Portland at 17.5° and climbs to about 78° N, far up toward Greenland, before it curves down toward Arabia. The difference between the two lines is about 82°.

Nearby cities

• Seattle, WA17.6° NNE · 145 mi away
• Surrey, BC16.9° NNE · 254 mi away
• Vancouver, BC16.7° NNE · 261 mi away
• Sacramento, CA19.6° NNE · 483 mi away
• San Francisco, CA18.8° NNE · 535 mi away

See every city in the USA, or use the Qibla Finder for your exact spot.