Most of Wyoming Lives Beyond Cheyenne's Reach — Just 27.9% Within 100 Miles

By SimpleMapLab·Published 13 May 2026·Rank #43 of 50 states·↑ All 50 states

Only 27.9% of Wyoming’s population lives within 100 miles of Cheyenne. The state’s largest population centre — Casper — sits 154 miles from the capital, far outside the 100-mile circle. Wyoming ranks #43 of 50 states for capital centrality, meaning 7 states have a less-misplaced capital.

A 100-mile geodesic radius around the Cheyenne, WY state capitol overlaid on Wyoming. 27.9% of Wyoming's population lives inside the dashed ring.

27.9%

of Wyoming’s population within 100 miles of Cheyenne

161 K

residents inside the radius (of 578 K statewide)

157 mi

from Cheyenne to Wyoming’s population centroid

#43

of 50 states ranked by capital-to-population centrality

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

Why this happened

Cheyenne reaches only a minority of Wyoming's residents within a 100-mile radius. The capital's pull captures roughly the lightly populated counties around Cheyenne, but the state's actual population gravity sits elsewhere: Casper, the largest city outside the circle, is 154 miles away. Wyoming ranks #43 of 50 states for this metric — solidly in the "misplaced capital" category, where the political seat and the demographic centre have parted ways over the decades.

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

#	City	Population in radius
1	Cheyenne	94,953
2	Laramie	37,112
3	Torrington	9,667
4	Wheatland	6,245
5	Pine Bluffs	1,891

The largest city outside the radius

Wyoming’s most-populous city outside the 100-mile circle is Casper, sitting 154 miles from Cheyenne. The aggregated population of Casper’s ZIP codes alone — 72,922 residents — illustrates the gap between Wyoming’s political seat and its population centre.

How Wyoming compares

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

#42 California

Sacramento · 31.0% pop. captured

#44 Nevada

Carson City · 21.8% pop. captured

#41 North Dakota

Bismarck · 35.3% pop. captured

#45 Texas

Austin · 21.3% pop. captured

#40 Missouri

Jefferson City · 43.8% pop. captured

Draw it yourself

Open the 100-mile circle around Cheyenne →

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

Methodology (brief)

We took the lat/lng of the Wyoming state capitol building (41.1400°, -104.8202°) and drew a 100-mile geodesic radius. For every ZIP code in Wyoming, we tested whether the ZIP centroid falls inside; if so, its population counts. We then divide by Wyoming’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 Cheyenne: How Much of Wyoming Is Inside? Part of the State Capital Radius study. Retrieved from https://www.simplemaplab.com/studies/state-capital-radius/wyoming. Licensed under CC-BY 4.0.