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Inside the Columbia 100-Mile Circle: 73.7% of South Carolina, Including Columbia

By SimpleMapLab·Published 13 May 2026·Rank #20 of 50 states·↑ All 50 states

73.7% of South Carolina’s population — about 3.90 M of 5.30 M residents — lives within 100 miles of Columbia. The other 26.3% — including Myrtle Beach — sits beyond the circle.

Map: 100-mile geodesic radius around Columbia, SC, showing the share of South Carolina captured inside the circle.Dark forest-green stroke = the state boundary of South Carolina. Dashed forest-green ring = the 100-mile geodesic radius around the Columbia state capitol. The filled green dot marks the capitol location.Columbia
A 100-mile geodesic radius around the Columbia, SC state capitol overlaid on South Carolina. 73.7% of South Carolina's population lives inside the dashed ring.
73.7%
of South Carolina’s population within 100 miles of Columbia
3.90 M
residents inside the radius (of 5.30 M statewide)
3 mi
from Columbia to South Carolina’s population centroid
#20
of 50 states ranked by capital-to-population centrality
Open this radius in the map → /tools/map-radius-tool · Columbia, SC · 100 mi
The link opens the SimpleMapLab Map Radius Tool with the 100-mile circle already drawn around the Columbia capitol. Change the radius to 50, 250, or any value to compare different framings.

Why this happened

South Carolina's capital is centrally located but not perfectly placed. Columbia's 100-mile circle captures roughly two-thirds to four-fifths of the state's residents — including Columbia (the largest city inside, ~347K). The notable exception: Myrtle Beach, sitting 130 miles from the capital. The capital itself sits 3 miles from South Carolina'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 Columbia. Cities are listed by total population captured by ZIP centroids in the dataset.

#CityPopulation in radius
1Columbia346,894
2Greenville206,032
3Summerville171,668
4Fort Mill128,009
5Lexington122,563

The largest city outside the radius

South Carolina’s most-populous city outside the 100-mile circle is Myrtle Beach, sitting 130 miles from Columbia. The aggregated population of Myrtle Beach’s ZIP codes alone — 177,815 residents — illustrates the gap between South Carolina’s political seat and its population centre.

How South Carolina compares

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

#19 Arizona
Phoenix · 74.1% pop. captured
#21 Washington
Olympia · 73.5% pop. captured
#18 Oregon
Salem · 77.5% pop. captured
#22 Louisiana
Baton Rouge · 73.2% pop. captured
#17 Georgia
Atlanta · 77.8% pop. captured

Draw it yourself

Open the 100-mile circle around Columbia →

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

Methodology (brief)

We took the lat/lng of the South Carolina state capitol building (34.0007°, -81.0348°) and drew a 100-mile geodesic radius. For every ZIP code in South Carolina, we tested whether the ZIP centroid falls inside; if so, its population counts. We then divide by South 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 Columbia: How Much of South Carolina Is Inside? Part of the State Capital Radius study. Retrieved from https://www.simplemaplab.com/studies/state-capital-radius/south-carolina. Licensed under CC-BY 4.0.