Siri is going to want your location to give you the most accurate information. If I say "Hey Siri, how long will it take me to get to Portland", it will calculate that distance to Portland, Oregon since I am in Washington State. If you said the same and your location was on the East Coast, I would expect it to calculate based on Portland, Maine.
Whenever you ask a location based question, it will check if you have location turned on. If you don't, then nothing else is considered in your question, even if you provided the State, Zip Code, and Country for the location you are referring to.
You can use another Personal Assistant if you wish, it will just require you to download that app and ask the question in that app. Some apps such as Alexa also include a widget that appears on your screen to make access easier and can provide Shortcuts for access.