Indiana's Capital Reaches Just Half the State: 62.4% Within 100 Miles of Indianapolis

By SimpleMapLab·Published 13 May 2026·Rank #27 of 50 states·↑ All 50 states

62.4% of Indiana’s population — about 4.27 M of 6.85 M residents — lives within 100 miles of Indianapolis. The other 37.6% — including Fort Wayne — sits beyond the circle.

A 100-mile geodesic radius around the Indianapolis, IN state capitol overlaid on Indiana. 62.4% of Indiana's population lives inside the dashed ring.

62.4%

of Indiana’s population within 100 miles of Indianapolis

4.27 M

residents inside the radius (of 6.85 M statewide)

26 mi

from Indianapolis to Indiana’s population centroid

#27

of 50 states ranked by capital-to-population centrality

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

Why this happened

Indiana 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. Indianapolis's 100-mile reach captures Indianapolis (~984K) and the surrounding counties, but stops well short of Fort Wayne, which sits 104 miles away. The capital-to-population-centroid distance is 26 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 Indianapolis. Cities are listed by total population captured by ZIP centroids in the dataset.

#	City	Population in radius
1	Indianapolis	984,293
2	Bloomington	130,245
3	Lafayette	106,622
4	Greenwood	96,151
5	Terre Haute	92,761

The largest city outside the radius

Indiana’s most-populous city outside the 100-mile circle is Fort Wayne, sitting 104 miles from Indianapolis. The aggregated population of Fort Wayne’s ZIP codes alone — 301,446 residents — illustrates the gap between Indiana’s political seat and its population centre.

How Indiana compares

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

#26 Pennsylvania

Harrisburg · 66.4% pop. captured

#28 West Virginia

Charleston · 61.6% pop. captured

#25 Oklahoma

Oklahoma City · 67.5% pop. captured

#29 Ohio

Columbus · 58.5% pop. captured

#24 Wisconsin

Madison · 69.4% pop. captured

Draw it yourself

Open the 100-mile circle around Indianapolis →

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

Methodology (brief)

We took the lat/lng of the Indiana state capitol building (39.7684°, -86.1581°) and drew a 100-mile geodesic radius. For every ZIP code in Indiana, we tested whether the ZIP centroid falls inside; if so, its population counts. We then divide by Indiana’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 Indianapolis: How Much of Indiana Is Inside? Part of the State Capital Radius study. Retrieved from https://www.simplemaplab.com/studies/state-capital-radius/indiana. Licensed under CC-BY 4.0.