Inside the Richmond 100-Mile Circle: 78.8% of Virginia, Including Virginia Beach

By SimpleMapLab·Published 13 May 2026·Rank #15 of 50 states·↑ All 50 states

78.8% of Virginia’s population — about 6.80 M of 8.63 M residents — lives within 100 miles of Richmond. The other 21.2% — including Roanoke — sits beyond the circle.

A 100-mile geodesic radius around the Richmond, VA state capitol overlaid on Virginia. 78.8% of Virginia's population lives inside the dashed ring.

78.8%

of Virginia’s population within 100 miles of Richmond

6.80 M

residents inside the radius (of 8.63 M statewide)

28 mi

from Richmond to Virginia’s population centroid

#15

of 50 states ranked by capital-to-population centrality

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

Why this happened

Virginia's capital is centrally located but not perfectly placed. Richmond's 100-mile circle captures roughly two-thirds to four-fifths of the state's residents — including Virginia Beach (the largest city inside, ~452K). The notable exception: Roanoke, sitting 139 miles from the capital. The capital itself sits 28 miles from Virginia'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 Richmond. Cities are listed by total population captured by ZIP centroids in the dataset.

#	City	Population in radius
1	Virginia Beach	451,535
2	Richmond	407,296
3	Alexandria	345,048
4	Chesapeake	253,091
5	Arlington	235,798

The largest city outside the radius

Virginia’s most-populous city outside the 100-mile circle is Roanoke, sitting 139 miles from Richmond. The aggregated population of Roanoke’s ZIP codes alone — 170,297 residents — illustrates the gap between Virginia’s political seat and its population centre.

How Virginia compares

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

#14 Minnesota

Saint Paul · 80.3% pop. captured

#16 Hawaii

Honolulu · 77.9% pop. captured

#13 Nebraska

Lincoln · 81.5% pop. captured

#17 Georgia

Atlanta · 77.8% pop. captured

#12 Colorado

Denver · 86.2% pop. captured

Draw it yourself

Open the 100-mile circle around Richmond →

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

Methodology (brief)

We took the lat/lng of the Virginia state capitol building (37.5407°, -77.4360°) and drew a 100-mile geodesic radius. For every ZIP code in Virginia, we tested whether the ZIP centroid falls inside; if so, its population counts. We then divide by Virginia’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 Richmond: How Much of Virginia Is Inside? Part of the State Capital Radius study. Retrieved from https://www.simplemaplab.com/studies/state-capital-radius/virginia. Licensed under CC-BY 4.0.