Two-Thirds of Kentucky Lives Near Frankfort: The 100-Mile Reach, Mapped

By SimpleMapLab·Published 13 May 2026·Rank #23 of 50 states·↑ All 50 states

70.1% of Kentucky’s population — about 3.17 M of 4.52 M residents — lives within 100 miles of Frankfort. The other 29.9% — including Bowling Green — sits beyond the circle.

A 100-mile geodesic radius around the Frankfort, KY state capitol overlaid on Kentucky. 70.1% of Kentucky's population lives inside the dashed ring.

70.1%

of Kentucky’s population within 100 miles of Frankfort

3.17 M

residents inside the radius (of 4.52 M statewide)

33 mi

from Frankfort to Kentucky’s population centroid

#23

of 50 states ranked by capital-to-population centrality

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

Why this happened

Kentucky's capital is centrally located but not perfectly placed. Frankfort's 100-mile circle captures roughly two-thirds to four-fifths of the state's residents — including Louisville (the largest city inside, ~770K). The notable exception: Bowling Green, sitting 118 miles from the capital. The capital itself sits 33 miles from Kentucky's population centroid — a moderate but not extreme offset.

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

#	City	Population in radius
1	Louisville	770,113
2	Lexington	324,356
3	Richmond	65,961
4	Florence	57,634
5	Elizabethtown	53,987

The largest city outside the radius

Kentucky’s most-populous city outside the 100-mile circle is Bowling Green, sitting 118 miles from Frankfort. The aggregated population of Bowling Green’s ZIP codes alone — 129,408 residents — illustrates the gap between Kentucky’s political seat and its population centre.

How Kentucky compares

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

#22 Louisiana

Baton Rouge · 73.2% pop. captured

#24 Wisconsin

Madison · 69.4% pop. captured

#21 Washington

Olympia · 73.5% pop. captured

#25 Oklahoma

Oklahoma City · 67.5% pop. captured

#20 South Carolina

Columbia · 73.7% pop. captured

Draw it yourself

Open the 100-mile circle around Frankfort →

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

Methodology (brief)

We took the lat/lng of the Kentucky state capitol building (38.2009°, -84.8733°) and drew a 100-mile geodesic radius. For every ZIP code in Kentucky, we tested whether the ZIP centroid falls inside; if so, its population counts. We then divide by Kentucky’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 Frankfort: How Much of Kentucky Is Inside? Part of the State Capital Radius study. Retrieved from https://www.simplemaplab.com/studies/state-capital-radius/kentucky. Licensed under CC-BY 4.0.