What a 50 mile radius covers
A 50 mile circle covers about 7,850 square miles, more than New Jersey’s land area of roughly 7,400 square miles. Around most cities it includes the whole metro area, several smaller cities, and plenty of countryside. Around a coastal city, a large share of the circle can be water.
- Regional sales and service territories. A rep or technician based at the center can usually reach any point in about an hour, which makes 50 miles a common territory size.
- Radius clauses. Festivals and venues sometimes stop booked artists from playing other shows within a set radius. The map shows which cities and venues such a clause would cover.
- Day trips and weekend plans. Draw a 50 mile circle around home to find towns, parks, and attractions within about an hour’s drive.
- Nuclear emergency planning. Around U.S. nuclear power plants, the NRC defines an ingestion pathway planning zone of about 50 miles, where food and water could need protection after a release.
- Recruiting. Employers comparing office locations can see how many towns fall within a long but realistic commute.
Draw a 50 mile circle
- Search a city, address, or coordinates, or click the map.
- Select the 50 preset with the unit set to miles.
- Use Add circle to compare a second base, and give each circle its own color and label.
- Check Towns and cities inside the circle for the full list, and export a PNG image or KML file to share.
A 50 mile radius in numbers
| Radius | 80.5 km · 43.4 nautical miles · 264,000 feet |
|---|---|
| Diameter | 100.0 miles · 160.9 km |
| Circumference | 314.2 miles · 505.6 km |
| Area | 7,854 sq mi · 20,341 km² |
| Area in land units | 5,026,481 acres · 2,034,145 hectares |
Area and circumference are calculated on a spherical Earth, so very large circles are slightly smaller than πr² suggests.
How long does it take to cross a 50 mile radius?
These times cover the straight-line distance from the center to the edge at a steady speed. Real routes are longer: road networks usually add 20 to 40 percent to the straight-line distance, more where rivers, hills, or coastlines force detours.
| Way of travel | Center to edge | With a 30% detour |
|---|---|---|
| Walking (3 mph / 5 km/h) | 16 h 40 min | 21 h 40 min |
| Cycling (12 mph / 19 km/h) | 4 h 10 min | 5 h 25 min |
| Driving on city streets (25 mph / 40 km/h) | 2 h 0 min | 2 h 36 min |
| Driving on highways (60 mph / 97 km/h) | 50 min | 1 h 5 min |
What a 50 mile radius covers in major cities
Places with at least 15,000 residents inside a 50 mile circle drawn from each city’s central reference point, using GeoNames data. Counts include city districts listed separately.
| Center | Places inside | Largest places inside |
|---|---|---|
| New York CityNew York City Hall in Lower Manhattan | 296 | Brooklyn (5.2 mi), Queens (9.1 mi), Manhattan (5.3 mi) |
| Chicagothe Loop | 178 | Aurora (36 mi), Joliet (34 mi), Naperville (27 mi) |
| Los AngelesLos Angeles City Hall | 185 | Long Beach (20 mi), Anaheim (24 mi), Riverside (49 mi) |
| DallasDowntown Dallas | 59 | Fort Worth (31 mi), Arlington (18 mi), Plano (18 mi) |
| LondonCharing Cross | 273 | Islington (2.3 mi), Reading (36 mi), Southend-on-Sea (36 mi) |
| Paristhe Hôtel de Ville | 262 | Marne La Vallée (13 mi), Paris 15 Vaugirard (2.6 mi), Paris 20 Ménilmontant (2.2 mi) |
Two 50 mile circles, two very different areas
The same circle means very different things in different places. Around New York it holds well over a hundred towns and cities; around a rural town in the Great Plains it may contain only a handful. Coastal circles include large areas of sea, and circles in mountainous areas include terrain that roads cross slowly. Compare the list of places inside each circle rather than relying on area alone.
Related maps: 25 mile radius · 100 mile radius · find cities within a radius