Qibla Direction in Washington, DC

How to face the Qibla in Washington

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 67.3° on the dial. That is the magnetic bearing; reading 56.6° off a magnetic compass would leave you about 10.7° 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 Washington points east-northeast

On a flat wall map, Makkah looks east of Washington: a straight line drawn on a Mercator map points 100°. The earth is round, though, and the shortest path over its surface, a great circle, leaves Washington at 56.6° and arcs north over the Atlantic, reaching about 50° N before it turns down toward Arabia. That shorter, curved route is why the Qibla here is east-northeast, about 43° to the left of the flat-map line.

Nearby cities

• Baltimore, MD56.8° ENE · 35 mi away
• Philadelphia, PA57.7° ENE · 123 mi away
• Edison, NJ58.2° ENE · 178 mi away
• Jersey City, NJ58.5° ENE · 202 mi away
• New York, NY58.5° ENE · 204 mi away

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