Why 14.7% of New York Lives Within 100 Miles of Albany (and Why Brooklyn Doesn't)

By SimpleMapLab·Published 13 May 2026·Rank #47 of 50 states·↑ All 50 states

Only 14.7% of New York’s population lives within 100 miles of Albany. The state’s largest population centre — Brooklyn — sits 136 miles from the capital, far outside the 100-mile circle. New York ranks #47 of 50 states for capital centrality, meaning 3 states have a less-misplaced capital.

A 100-mile geodesic radius around the Albany, NY state capitol overlaid on New York. 14.7% of New York's population lives inside the dashed ring.

14.7%

of New York’s population within 100 miles of Albany

2.91 M

residents inside the radius (of 19.77 M statewide)

92 mi

from Albany to New York’s population centroid

#47

of 50 states ranked by capital-to-population centrality

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

Why this happened

Albany was chosen as New York's capital in 1797 as a compromise between New York City's commercial dominance and the Hudson Valley's political weight, in the era when New York City still ranked behind Philadelphia and Boston. Two centuries later, with the five boroughs holding 8.3 million people and the metro area another 12 million, Albany reaches just 14.7% of New Yorkers within 100 miles. Brooklyn alone — sitting 136 miles south of the Capitol — holds more people than the rest of the state combined.

New York's political geography is the most lopsided of any large US state: the capital legislates over a state where 60% of the population lives in a single metro area 150 miles to the south. Periodic proposals to move the capital to White Plains or Manhattan itself have always failed; Albany's residents and Upstate legislators have too much to lose.

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

#	City	Population in radius
1	Schenectady	170,822
2	Albany	156,631
3	Poughkeepsie	88,784
4	Utica	72,968
5	Troy	71,316

The largest city outside the radius

New York’s most-populous city outside the 100-mile circle is Brooklyn, sitting 136 miles from Albany. The aggregated population of Brooklyn’s ZIP codes alone — 2,631,396 residents — illustrates the gap between New York’s political seat and its population centre.

How New York compares

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

#46 Illinois

Springfield · 19.1% pop. captured

#48 South Dakota

Pierre · 10.8% pop. captured

#45 Texas

Austin · 21.3% pop. captured

#49 Alaska

Juneau · 6.2% pop. captured

#44 Nevada

Carson City · 21.8% pop. captured

Draw it yourself

Open the 100-mile circle around Albany →

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

Methodology (brief)

We took the lat/lng of the New York state capitol building (42.6526°, -73.7562°) and drew a 100-mile geodesic radius. For every ZIP code in New York, we tested whether the ZIP centroid falls inside; if so, its population counts. We then divide by New York’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 Albany: How Much of New York Is Inside? Part of the State Capital Radius study. Retrieved from https://www.simplemaplab.com/studies/state-capital-radius/new-york. Licensed under CC-BY 4.0.