Population Within Radius — Count People Inside Any Circle
Search any address, draw a 1, 3, 5 or 10 mile circle, and get the number of people living inside it — summed from official U.S. Census tract data, with population density and a CSV export. Free, no signup, computed entirely in your browser.
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Search any address, then every census tract whose center lies inside the circle contributes its population to the total. Dots are sized by tract population.
Examples: population inside 1, 3, 5 and 10 mile rings
Computed with the exact dataset this tool uses (city-center to tract-center):
| City | Radius | Population | Census tracts | People / sq mi |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago | 1 mi | 72,955 | 11 | 23,222 |
| Chicago | 3 mi | 361,646 | 89 | 12,791 |
| Chicago | 5 mi | 801,852 | 251 | 10,209 |
| Chicago | 10 mi | 2,576,460 | 723 | 8,201 |
| New York | 1 mi | 150,147 | 25 | 47,793 |
| New York | 3 mi | 1,034,340 | 233 | 36,582 |
| New York | 5 mi | 2,472,442 | 615 | 31,480 |
| New York | 10 mi | 7,340,258 | 1,898 | 23,365 |
| Los Angeles | 1 mi | 57,047 | 22 | 18,159 |
| Los Angeles | 3 mi | 457,017 | 145 | 16,164 |
| Los Angeles | 5 mi | 1,178,280 | 349 | 15,002 |
| Los Angeles | 10 mi | 3,460,628 | 919 | 11,016 |
Notice the pattern: a 1-mile ring around downtown New York holds about twice the population of the same ring in Chicago and nearly triple Los Angeles — that density gap is exactly what makes this number useful for site selection. The same radius is a very different business depending on where you draw it.
Reference points are our fixed city-center coordinates; a live address search geocodes to a slightly different point (often a few hundred meters away), so totals can vary by a few percent at the ring's edge — that is inherent to tract-center counting.
How the population is counted
The tool loads the U.S. Census Bureau's tract-level population counts (the TIGERweb publication of the 2020 census tract geography) — about 85,500 census tracts, each with its population and an internal point. When you draw a circle, every tract whose internal point falls inside contributes its full population to the total, and appears as a dot sized by its population.
Honest limitations: tracts are counted all-or-nothing, so a tract whose center sits just outside the ring contributes nothing even if a third of its people live inside — expect small over- and under-counts near the edge, largest for small radii in dense areas. Population reflects the census vintage the Bureau publishes through this service, not today's count. And a straight-line circle is not a drive-time trade area. For legal or regulatory definitions of a trade area, use a methodology your industry recognizes.
Who needs a radius population count?
Real estate & agents. “How many people within 5 miles of this listing?” is a buyer question that screenshots of this tool answer instantly — with the CSV to back it up.
Retail & franchise site selection. Compare candidate locations by the population each one can reach in the same drive radius before paying for a full trade-area report.
Marketing territories. Size a mail or campaign audience by geography, then hand the ZIP list from the ZIP code radius tool to your vendor.
Emergency & event planning. Estimate how many residents a scenario affects inside a given radius — fast, free, and reproducible.
Explore more map tools
ZIP Code Radius
List every ZIP code inside a radius.
Area Calculator
Measure any plot's area in acres.
Radius Map
Draw circles around any point on the map.
Start with the population counter above — free, no signup, no usage caps.
Frequently asked questions
How many people live within 5 miles of me?
Search your address above with the 5-mile preset — the total appears instantly, summed from census tracts whose centers fall inside the ring. Density (people per square mile) is shown right next to it.
How accurate is the population count?
The underlying tract populations are official Census Bureau counts. The circle filter counts a tract fully if its center is inside, so expect roughly ±5–10% near the ring's edge — the error shrinks as the radius grows relative to tract size.
What data source is this based on?
Tract-level population published through the Census Bureau's TIGERweb service on 2020 census tract geography (85,528 tracts, public domain). It is retrieved once at build time and served as a static file, which is why the tool needs no account and runs entirely in your browser.
Why does my total differ slightly from another website's?
Most tools use the same census tracts but differ in edge handling (centroid-in-circle vs. areal weighting) and data vintage. Differences near the radius edge are normal; differences of more than ~10% usually mean a different data year.
Can I get demographics like age or income?
Total population is included today. Age, income and household breakdowns require the American Community Survey and are planned as an upgrade — the CSV export already includes tract GEOIDs so an analyst can join ACS data themselves.
Can I export the results?
Yes — CSV exports every tract inside the circle (GEOID, population, distance, coordinates) for spreadsheets or GIS, and PNG exports a shareable map image with attribution.
Page last updated . Data sources and methodology are described in the sections above and in About.