Connecticut Is So Compact That Hartford's 100-Mile Reach Covers Every Resident

By SimpleMapLab·Published 13 May 2026·Rank #1 of 50 states·↑ All 50 states

Every resident of Connecticut lives within 100 miles of Hartford. Connecticut is one of the four US states physically small enough to be fully enclosed by a 100-mile circle drawn from its capital.

A 100-mile geodesic radius around the Hartford, CT state capitol overlaid on Connecticut. 100.0% of Connecticut's population lives inside the dashed ring.

100.0%

of Connecticut’s population within 100 miles of Hartford

3.62 M

residents inside the radius (of 3.62 M statewide)

21 mi

from Hartford to Connecticut’s population centroid

of 50 states ranked by capital-to-population centrality

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

Why this happened

Connecticut is one of only four US states physically small enough to fit entirely inside a 100-mile circle drawn from its capital. Hartford — the capital — sits 21 miles from Connecticut's population centroid, the smallest capital-to-centre distance of any state. Every Connecticut resident, from Stonington on the Rhode Island border to Salisbury in the Berkshires, lives within an hour and a half's drive of the State Capitol.

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 Hartford. Cities are listed by total population captured by ZIP centroids in the dataset.

#	City	Population in radius
1	Bridgeport	149,153
2	Stamford	137,068
3	New Haven	132,813
4	Hartford	121,162
5	Waterbury	115,012

How Connecticut compares

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

#2 Delaware

Dover · 100.0% pop. captured

#3 New Jersey

Trenton · 100.0% pop. captured

#4 Rhode Island

Providence · 100.0% pop. captured

#5 Vermont

Montpelier · 98.6% pop. captured

#6 Maryland

Annapolis · 98.4% pop. captured

Draw it yourself

Open the 100-mile circle around Hartford →

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 Hartford’s reach with that of Bridgeport, or add a second circle for a side-by-side comparison.

Methodology (brief)

We took the lat/lng of the Connecticut state capitol building (41.7637°, -72.6851°) and drew a 100-mile geodesic radius. For every ZIP code in Connecticut, we tested whether the ZIP centroid falls inside; if so, its population counts. We then divide by Connecticut’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 Hartford: How Much of Connecticut Is Inside? Part of the State Capital Radius study. Retrieved from https://www.simplemaplab.com/studies/state-capital-radius/connecticut. Licensed under CC-BY 4.0.