How Much of Wisconsin Lives Near Madison? 69.4%, According to the ZIP-Code Data

By SimpleMapLab·Published 13 May 2026·Rank #24 of 50 states·↑ All 50 states

69.4% of Wisconsin’s population — about 4.10 M of 5.91 M residents — lives within 100 miles of Madison. The other 30.6% — including Green Bay — sits beyond the circle.

A 100-mile geodesic radius around the Madison, WI state capitol overlaid on Wisconsin. 69.4% of Wisconsin's population lives inside the dashed ring.

69.4%

of Wisconsin’s population within 100 miles of Madison

4.10 M

residents inside the radius (of 5.91 M statewide)

48 mi

from Madison to Wisconsin’s population centroid

#24

of 50 states ranked by capital-to-population centrality

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

Why this happened

Wisconsin's capital is centrally located but not perfectly placed. Madison's 100-mile circle captures roughly two-thirds to four-fifths of the state's residents — including Milwaukee (the largest city inside, ~784K). The notable exception: Green Bay, sitting 119 miles from the capital. The capital itself sits 48 miles from Wisconsin'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 Madison. Cities are listed by total population captured by ZIP centroids in the dataset.

#	City	Population in radius
1	Milwaukee	784,130
2	Madison	310,932
3	Racine	128,133
4	Kenosha	111,923
5	Appleton	101,524

The largest city outside the radius

Wisconsin’s most-populous city outside the 100-mile circle is Green Bay, sitting 119 miles from Madison. The aggregated population of Green Bay’s ZIP codes alone — 189,141 residents — illustrates the gap between Wisconsin’s political seat and its population centre.

How Wisconsin compares

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

#23 Kentucky

Frankfort · 70.1% pop. captured

#25 Oklahoma

Oklahoma City · 67.5% pop. captured

#22 Louisiana

Baton Rouge · 73.2% pop. captured

#26 Pennsylvania

Harrisburg · 66.4% pop. captured

#21 Washington

Olympia · 73.5% pop. captured

Draw it yourself

Open the 100-mile circle around Madison →

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

Methodology (brief)

We took the lat/lng of the Wisconsin state capitol building (43.0747°, -89.3841°) and drew a 100-mile geodesic radius. For every ZIP code in Wisconsin, we tested whether the ZIP centroid falls inside; if so, its population counts. We then divide by Wisconsin’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 Madison: How Much of Wisconsin Is Inside? Part of the State Capital Radius study. Retrieved from https://www.simplemaplab.com/studies/state-capital-radius/wisconsin. Licensed under CC-BY 4.0.