State Capitols close to other State Capitols (or their equivalents)

[The Nature Boy]

The state capitol thread sparked this debate in my mind so I thought I'd share.

Are DC and Annapolis the two closest capital equivalents? DC City Hall and the Maryland State House are only 33 miles apart on Google Maps.

Are Baltimore-Washington and Greater Boston the only two metro areas to have two capital equivalents? Greater Boston comes close to three but doesn't quite extend north to include Concord.

[usends]

I made this map for a different purpose, but it might help to answer some of your questions (you can turn off the population centroid layer).  Looks like the closest are Boston-Providence (50 miles) and Annapolis-Dover (65 miles).

[DTComposer]

I made this map for a different purpose, but it might help to answer some of your questions (you can turn off the population centroid layer).  Looks like the closest are Boston-Providence (50 miles) and Annapolis-Dover (65 miles).

Not to get off-topic, but looking at your map, I would be curious to see the capitols in relation to the center of population at the time that capitol was designated. For example, California's center of population in 1880 (couldn't find anything earlier than that) was in San Joaquin County, only about 45 miles away from Sacramento.
Since Las Vegas basically didn't exist until 1905, I'm sure the center of population in Nevada was much, much closer to Carson City when it was designated the capitol.

[GaryV]

I made this map for a different purpose, but it might help to answer some of your questions (you can turn off the population centroid layer).  Looks like the closest are Boston-Providence (50 miles) and Annapolis-Dover (65 miles).

How are the population centroids calculated?  I wonder how Michigan's is so far north - about even with Flint and Grand Rapids, so the only community of any size north of it is Saginaw/Bay City/Midland area.  How does that balance out Detroit, Lansing, Kalamazoo, Ann Arbor, etc?

Or is it that those few hundred souls in Keweenaw County are so far from the "fulcrum" that they exert undue force in balancing the state?

[usends]

...I would be curious to see the capitols in relation to the center of population at the time that capitol was designated...

Yeah, that could be interesting.  I could add another layer to the map; wanna help with research? 

How are the population centroids calculated?

I just took the geographic coordinates from the Census Bureau; I'm not sure exactly how they calculate the figures.

[The Nature Boy]

Augusta however seems to be almost exactly in the population center of Maine. I imagine that that will shift south though as Cumberland and York Counties continue to grow and the rest of the state doesn't.

[cl94]

As previously stated, Boston is damn close to Providence and Concord and developed areas connect all.

Dover-Trenton-Annapolis are relatively close as well.

In relative terms, Sacramento is closer to Carson City than any other western capital pairs.

[sandwalk]

In relative terms, Sacramento is closer to Carson City than any other western capital pairs.

Denver & Cheyenne beg to differ.

[cl94]

In relative terms, Sacramento is closer to Carson City than any other western capital pairs.

Denver & Cheyenne beg to differ.

Oops. Good point. The two pairs are, in western terms, quite close.