Inside the Salt Lake City 100-Mile Circle: 88.5% of Utah, Including Salt Lake City
88.5% of Utah’s population — roughly 2.96 M of the state’s 3.34 M residents — lives within 100 miles of Salt Lake City. Utah ranks #10 of 50 states for capital-to-population centrality.
The link opens the SimpleMapLab Map Radius Tool with the 100-mile circle already drawn around the Salt Lake City capitol. Change the radius to 50, 250, or any value to compare different framings.
Why this happened
Utah's capital is centrally located but not perfectly placed. Salt Lake City's 100-mile circle captures roughly two-thirds to four-fifths of the state's residents — including Salt Lake City (the largest city inside, ~507K). The notable exception: Saint George, sitting 267 miles from the capital. The capital itself sits 27 miles from Utah'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 Salt Lake City. Cities are listed by total population captured by ZIP centroids in the dataset.
| # | City | Population in radius |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Salt Lake City | 507,472 |
| 2 | Ogden | 222,000 |
| 3 | West Valley City | 132,995 |
| 4 | West Jordan | 123,084 |
| 5 | Provo | 115,067 |
The largest city outside the radius
Utah’s most-populous city outside the 100-mile circle is Saint George, sitting 267 miles from Salt Lake City. The aggregated population of Saint George’s ZIP codes alone — 104,289 residents — illustrates the gap between Utah’s political seat and its population centre.
How Utah compares
The states ranked closest to Utah on this metric. Click any to compare the radius breakdown directly.
Draw it yourself
Open the 100-mile circle around Salt Lake City →
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 Salt Lake City’s reach with that of Salt Lake City, or add a second circle for a side-by-side comparison.
Methodology (brief)
We took the lat/lng of the Utah state capitol building (40.7608°, -111.8910°) and drew a 100-mile geodesic radius. For every ZIP code in Utah, we tested whether the ZIP centroid falls inside; if so, its population counts. We then divide by Utah’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 Salt Lake City: How Much of Utah Is Inside? Part of the State Capital Radius study. Retrieved from https://www.simplemaplab.com/studies/state-capital-radius/utah. Licensed under CC-BY 4.0.