57.4% Inside, 42.6% Outside: The Reach of Santa Fe Across New Mexico
57.4% of New Mexico’s population — about 1.22 M of 2.12 M residents — lives within 100 miles of Santa Fe. The other 42.6% — including Las Cruces — sits beyond the circle.
The link opens the SimpleMapLab Map Radius Tool with the 100-mile circle already drawn around the Santa Fe capitol. Change the radius to 50, 250, or any value to compare different framings.
Why this happened
New Mexico 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. Santa Fe's 100-mile reach captures Albuquerque (~652K) and the surrounding counties, but stops well short of Las Cruces, which sits 239 miles away. The capital-to-population-centroid distance is 79 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 Santa Fe. Cities are listed by total population captured by ZIP centroids in the dataset.
| # | City | Population in radius |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Albuquerque | 652,291 |
| 2 | Santa Fe | 134,375 |
| 3 | Rio Rancho | 110,336 |
| 4 | Los Lunas | 47,514 |
| 5 | Belen | 21,265 |
The largest city outside the radius
New Mexico’s most-populous city outside the 100-mile circle is Las Cruces, sitting 239 miles from Santa Fe. The aggregated population of Las Cruces’s ZIP codes alone — 159,159 residents — illustrates the gap between New Mexico’s political seat and its population centre.
How New Mexico compares
The states ranked closest to New Mexico on this metric. Click any to compare the radius breakdown directly.
Draw it yourself
Open the 100-mile circle around Santa Fe →
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 Santa Fe’s reach with that of Albuquerque, or add a second circle for a side-by-side comparison.
Methodology (brief)
We took the lat/lng of the New Mexico state capitol building (35.6870°, -105.9378°) and drew a 100-mile geodesic radius. For every ZIP code in New Mexico, we tested whether the ZIP centroid falls inside; if so, its population counts. We then divide by New Mexico’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 Santa Fe: How Much of New Mexico Is Inside? Part of the State Capital Radius study. Retrieved from https://www.simplemaplab.com/studies/state-capital-radius/new-mexico. Licensed under CC-BY 4.0.