Tennessee's Lopsided Geography: Nashville Reaches 44.2% of the State Inside 100 Miles

By SimpleMapLab·Published 13 May 2026·Rank #39 of 50 states·↑ All 50 states

44.2% of Tennessee’s population — about 3.13 M of 7.08 M residents — lives within 100 miles of Nashville. The other 55.8% — including Memphis — sits beyond the circle.

A 100-mile geodesic radius around the Nashville, TN state capitol overlaid on Tennessee. 44.2% of Tennessee's population lives inside the dashed ring.

44.2%

of Tennessee’s population within 100 miles of Nashville

3.13 M

residents inside the radius (of 7.08 M statewide)

36 mi

from Nashville to Tennessee’s population centroid

#39

of 50 states ranked by capital-to-population centrality

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

Why this happened

Tennessee 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. Nashville's 100-mile reach captures Nashville (~478K) and the surrounding counties, but stops well short of Memphis, which sits 197 miles away. The capital-to-population-centroid distance is 36 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 Nashville. Cities are listed by total population captured by ZIP centroids in the dataset.

#	City	Population in radius
1	Nashville	477,938
2	Murfreesboro	225,187
3	Clarksville	211,371
4	Franklin	119,278
5	Antioch	105,212

The largest city outside the radius

Tennessee’s most-populous city outside the 100-mile circle is Memphis, sitting 197 miles from Nashville. The aggregated population of Memphis’s ZIP codes alone — 673,542 residents — illustrates the gap between Tennessee’s political seat and its population centre.

How Tennessee compares

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

#38 Montana

Helena · 45.1% pop. captured

#40 Missouri

Jefferson City · 43.8% pop. captured

#37 Mississippi

Jackson · 49.4% pop. captured

#41 North Dakota

Bismarck · 35.3% pop. captured

#36 Iowa

Des Moines · 49.8% pop. captured

Draw it yourself

Open the 100-mile circle around Nashville →

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

Methodology (brief)

We took the lat/lng of the Tennessee state capitol building (36.1627°, -86.7816°) and drew a 100-mile geodesic radius. For every ZIP code in Tennessee, we tested whether the ZIP centroid falls inside; if so, its population counts. We then divide by Tennessee’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 Nashville: How Much of Tennessee Is Inside? Part of the State Capital Radius study. Retrieved from https://www.simplemaplab.com/studies/state-capital-radius/tennessee. Licensed under CC-BY 4.0.