Baton Rouge's 100-Mile Reach Captures 73.2% of Louisiana — Here's What That Looks Like

By SimpleMapLab·Published 13 May 2026·Rank #22 of 50 states·↑ All 50 states

73.2% of Louisiana’s population — about 3.38 M of 4.61 M residents — lives within 100 miles of Baton Rouge. The other 26.8% — including Shreveport — sits beyond the circle.

A 100-mile geodesic radius around the Baton Rouge, LA state capitol overlaid on Louisiana. 73.2% of Louisiana's population lives inside the dashed ring.

73.2%

of Louisiana’s population within 100 miles of Baton Rouge

3.38 M

residents inside the radius (of 4.61 M statewide)

24 mi

from Baton Rouge to Louisiana’s population centroid

#22

of 50 states ranked by capital-to-population centrality

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

Why this happened

Louisiana's capital is centrally located but not perfectly placed. Baton Rouge's 100-mile circle captures roughly two-thirds to four-fifths of the state's residents — including New Orleans (the largest city inside, ~410K). The notable exception: Shreveport, sitting 207 miles from the capital. The capital itself sits 24 miles from Louisiana'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 Baton Rouge. Cities are listed by total population captured by ZIP centroids in the dataset.

#	City	Population in radius
1	New Orleans	409,797
2	Baton Rouge	384,540
3	Lafayette	158,114
4	Metairie	137,978
5	Slidell	95,511

The largest city outside the radius

Louisiana’s most-populous city outside the 100-mile circle is Shreveport, sitting 207 miles from Baton Rouge. The aggregated population of Shreveport’s ZIP codes alone — 207,716 residents — illustrates the gap between Louisiana’s political seat and its population centre.

How Louisiana compares

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

#21 Washington

Olympia · 73.5% pop. captured

#23 Kentucky

Frankfort · 70.1% pop. captured

#20 South Carolina

Columbia · 73.7% pop. captured

#24 Wisconsin

Madison · 69.4% pop. captured

#19 Arizona

Phoenix · 74.1% pop. captured

Draw it yourself

Open the 100-mile circle around Baton Rouge →

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 Baton Rouge’s reach with that of New Orleans, or add a second circle for a side-by-side comparison.

Methodology (brief)

We took the lat/lng of the Louisiana state capitol building (30.4515°, -91.1871°) and drew a 100-mile geodesic radius. For every ZIP code in Louisiana, we tested whether the ZIP centroid falls inside; if so, its population counts. We then divide by Louisiana’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 Baton Rouge: How Much of Louisiana Is Inside? Part of the State Capital Radius study. Retrieved from https://www.simplemaplab.com/studies/state-capital-radius/louisiana. Licensed under CC-BY 4.0.