51.4% Inside, 48.6% Outside: The Reach of Little Rock Across Arkansas

By SimpleMapLab·Published 13 May 2026·Rank #35 of 50 states·↑ All 50 states

51.4% of Arkansas’s population — about 1.57 M of 3.05 M residents — lives within 100 miles of Little Rock. The other 48.6% — including Fayetteville — sits beyond the circle.

A 100-mile geodesic radius around the Little Rock, AR state capitol overlaid on Arkansas. 51.4% of Arkansas's population lives inside the dashed ring.

51.4%

of Arkansas’s population within 100 miles of Little Rock

1.57 M

residents inside the radius (of 3.05 M statewide)

41 mi

from Little Rock to Arkansas’s population centroid

#35

of 50 states ranked by capital-to-population centrality

Open this radius in the map → /tools/map-radius-tool · Little Rock, AR · 100 mi
The link opens the SimpleMapLab Map Radius Tool with the 100-mile circle already drawn around the Little Rock capitol. Change the radius to 50, 250, or any value to compare different framings.

Why this happened

Arkansas is a "split" state by this measure: roughly half its residents live within an hour and a half of the capital, and roughly half live beyond. Little Rock's 100-mile reach captures Little Rock (~219K) and the surrounding counties, but stops well short of Fayetteville, which sits 132 miles away. The capital-to-population-centroid distance is 41 miles — a clear signal that political and demographic weight no longer share a single point on the map.

The biggest cities inside the 100-mile radius

The top 5 most-populous places (by aggregated ZIP code population) sitting inside the 100-mile circle around Little Rock. Cities are listed by total population captured by ZIP centroids in the dataset.

#	City	Population in radius
1	Little Rock	218,896
2	Conway	86,905
3	Hot Springs National Park	76,414
4	North Little Rock	68,926
5	Benton	58,767

The largest city outside the radius

Arkansas’s most-populous city outside the 100-mile circle is Fayetteville, sitting 132 miles from Little Rock. The aggregated population of Fayetteville’s ZIP codes alone — 118,228 residents — illustrates the gap between Arkansas’s political seat and its population centre.

How Arkansas compares

The states ranked closest to Arkansas on this metric. Click any to compare the radius breakdown directly.

#34 Idaho

Boise · 51.8% pop. captured

#36 Iowa

Des Moines · 49.8% pop. captured

#33 Alabama

Montgomery · 52.5% pop. captured

#37 Mississippi

Jackson · 49.4% pop. captured

#32 North Carolina

Raleigh · 54.6% pop. captured

Draw it yourself

Open the 100-mile circle around Little Rock →

The Map Radius Tool lets you change the radius (try 50 mi for an urban-suburban question or 250 mi for “a day’s drive”), drag the centre to compare Little Rock’s reach with that of Little Rock, or add a second circle for a side-by-side comparison.

Methodology (brief)

We took the lat/lng of the Arkansas state capitol building (34.7465°, -92.2896°) and drew a 100-mile geodesic radius. For every ZIP code in Arkansas, we tested whether the ZIP centroid falls inside; if so, its population counts. We then divide by Arkansas’s total population to produce the percentage. The full methodology for all 50 states is on the hub page.

Suggested citation: SimpleMapLab (2026). 100 Miles Around Little Rock: How Much of Arkansas Is Inside? Part of the State Capital Radius study. Retrieved from https://www.simplemaplab.com/studies/state-capital-radius/arkansas. Licensed under CC-BY 4.0.