Qibla Direction in Seattle, Washington

How to face the Qibla in Seattle

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 2.7° on the dial. That is the magnetic bearing; reading 17.6° off a magnetic compass would leave you about 14.9° 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 Seattle points north-northeast

From Seattle the Qibla is north-northeast, closer to north than anywhere on the East Coast. A straight line on a Mercator map points 101°, east-southeast, but the great circle, the shortest path over the globe, leaves Seattle at 17.6° and climbs to about 78° N, far up toward Greenland, before it curves down toward Arabia. The difference between the two lines is about 83°.

Nearby cities

• Surrey, BC16.9° NNE · 112 mi away
• Vancouver, BC16.7° NNE · 121 mi away
• Portland, OR17.5° NNE · 145 mi away
• Calgary, AB25.0° NNE · 441 mi away
• Edmonton, AB25.3° NNE · 564 mi away

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