Draw a radius on a map

How to draw a radius

A radius is the distance from the center of a circle to its edge. If you draw a five-mile radius around your home, everything inside the circle is within five miles as the crow flies.

1. Choose a place. Search for an address, city, or ZIP or postal code and select a result. You can also enter coordinates or click the map.
2. Set your distance. Enter a radius in miles, kilometers, meters, or feet. Use the slider for a quick adjustment.
3. Adjust and save. Add circles to compare places, give them labels, and use Share or Export to keep your work. Drafts also save automatically on this device.

For a longer walkthrough, read how to draw a radius on a map.

What can you use it for?

A radius map is useful when you want a quick picture of an area: a delivery zone around a shop, homes near a workplace, or the reach of several branch locations.

Each circle can have its own distance, color, fill, and label. Select one from the menu to edit it, or choose “Fit all circles” to see the whole map. The measurements show its diameter, area, circumference, and center coordinates. To compare several distances around the same point, such as 1, 3, and 5 miles around a store, add rings.

Keep in mind that a circle measures straight-line distance. A place inside a ten-mile radius might be much farther away by road, especially across a river or around a mountain.

See which towns and cities are inside

Under the map, Towns and cities inside the circle lists every place with at least 15,000 residents inside the selected circle, nearest first. Each row shows the distance and compass direction from the center and the population, so you can answer questions such as “which towns are within 25 miles of our warehouse?” without checking them one by one.

Sort the list by size or name, show the places as dots on the map, and download it as CSV. The list uses open GeoNames data and is calculated in your browser. Read more about finding cities within a radius.

List the ZIP codes in a radius

When the circle is in the United States, ZIP codes inside the circle appears below the places list. It shows every ZIP code whose center point is inside the circle, with its postal place, county, and distance, and summarizes the counties the circle reaches. Use Copy ZIP list to paste the codes into an ad platform, CRM, or mailing tool, or download them as CSV.

Typing a five-digit ZIP code in the search box centers the circle on that ZIP instantly. Read the ZIP code radius map guide for how ZIP edges are handled and how many ZIPs fall within 5 to 50 miles of major US cities.

Pick a radius size

Each size answers a different kind of question. These guides open the map at that distance and explain what it covers, with travel times and examples from real cities.

How much area does a radius cover?

For a small circle, area is approximately π × radius². Doubling the radius gives you four times the area.

These are approximate areas using the flat-circle formula.

Saving and sharing your map

Your latest draft saves in this browser for each page. Reset this map clears that draft; exporting a map project lets you reopen it on another device. Share creates a snapshot link that opens your circles with their labels and colors. Share again after making changes to send an updated snapshot. Anyone with the link can view the map, so only include information you are happy to share.

Use GeoJSON for GIS software, KML for Google Earth or Google My Maps, and CSV for a spreadsheet; these include every circle on your map. PNG saves a picture of the current map view for slides and reports, and Print or save as PDF adds the measurements and places list.