North Carolina's Capital Reaches Just Half the State: 54.6% Within 100 Miles of Raleigh

By SimpleMapLab·Published 13 May 2026·Rank #32 of 50 states·↑ All 50 states

54.6% of North Carolina’s population — about 5.85 M of 10.73 M residents — lives within 100 miles of Raleigh. The other 45.4% — including Charlotte — sits beyond the circle.

A 100-mile geodesic radius around the Raleigh, NC state capitol overlaid on North Carolina. 54.6% of North Carolina's population lives inside the dashed ring.

54.6%

of North Carolina’s population within 100 miles of Raleigh

5.85 M

residents inside the radius (of 10.73 M statewide)

61 mi

from Raleigh to North Carolina’s population centroid

#32

of 50 states ranked by capital-to-population centrality

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

Why this happened

North Carolina 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. Raleigh's 100-mile reach captures Raleigh (~571K) and the surrounding counties, but stops well short of Charlotte, which sits 130 miles away. The capital-to-population-centroid distance is 61 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 Raleigh. Cities are listed by total population captured by ZIP centroids in the dataset.

#	City	Population in radius
1	Raleigh	571,337
2	Greensboro	333,909
3	Durham	316,299
4	Winston Salem	275,645
5	Fayetteville	245,911

The largest city outside the radius

North Carolina’s most-populous city outside the 100-mile circle is Charlotte, sitting 130 miles from Raleigh. The aggregated population of Charlotte’s ZIP codes alone — 986,604 residents — illustrates the gap between North Carolina’s political seat and its population centre.

How North Carolina compares

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

#31 Kansas

Topeka · 55.4% pop. captured

#33 Alabama

Montgomery · 52.5% pop. captured

#30 New Mexico

Santa Fe · 57.4% pop. captured

#34 Idaho

Boise · 51.8% pop. captured

#29 Ohio

Columbus · 58.5% pop. captured

Draw it yourself

Open the 100-mile circle around Raleigh →

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

Methodology (brief)

We took the lat/lng of the North Carolina state capitol building (35.7796°, -78.6382°) and drew a 100-mile geodesic radius. For every ZIP code in North Carolina, we tested whether the ZIP centroid falls inside; if so, its population counts. We then divide by North Carolina’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 Raleigh: How Much of North Carolina Is Inside? Part of the State Capital Radius study. Retrieved from https://www.simplemaplab.com/studies/state-capital-radius/north-carolina. Licensed under CC-BY 4.0.