Montpelier Reaches 98.6% of Vermont — Among America's Most Centralised State Capitals

By SimpleMapLab·Published 13 May 2026·Rank #5 of 50 states·↑ All 50 states

98.6% of Vermont’s population — roughly 638 K of the state’s 647 K residents — lives within 100 miles of Montpelier. Vermont ranks #5 of 50 states for capital-to-population centrality.

A 100-mile geodesic radius around the Montpelier, VT state capitol overlaid on Vermont. 98.6% of Vermont's population lives inside the dashed ring.

98.6%

of Vermont’s population within 100 miles of Montpelier

638 K

residents inside the radius (of 647 K statewide)

16 mi

from Montpelier to Vermont’s population centroid

of 50 states ranked by capital-to-population centrality

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

Why this happened

Few US states keep this share of their residents inside their capital's reach. The 100-mile radius around Montpelier encloses essentially all of Vermont's population centres — including Burlington (the largest city inside, with roughly 45K residents) — and extends almost to the population centroid itself. Vermont ranks #5 of 50 states for capital-to-population centrality.

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

#	City	Population in radius
1	Burlington	44,817
2	Essex Junction	22,626
3	South Burlington	20,614
4	Rutland	20,382
5	Colchester	17,680

The largest city outside the radius

Vermont’s most-populous city outside the 100-mile circle is Vernon, sitting 104 miles from Montpelier. The aggregated population of Vernon’s ZIP codes alone — 2,709 residents — illustrates the gap between Vermont’s political seat and its population centre.

How Vermont compares

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

#4 Rhode Island

Providence · 100.0% pop. captured

#6 Maryland

Annapolis · 98.4% pop. captured

#3 New Jersey

Trenton · 100.0% pop. captured

#7 Massachusetts

Boston · 98.2% pop. captured

#2 Delaware

Dover · 100.0% pop. captured

Draw it yourself

Open the 100-mile circle around Montpelier →

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

Methodology (brief)

We took the lat/lng of the Vermont state capitol building (44.2601°, -72.5754°) and drew a 100-mile geodesic radius. For every ZIP code in Vermont, we tested whether the ZIP centroid falls inside; if so, its population counts. We then divide by Vermont’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 Montpelier: How Much of Vermont Is Inside? Part of the State Capital Radius study. Retrieved from https://www.simplemaplab.com/studies/state-capital-radius/vermont. Licensed under CC-BY 4.0.