With boundaries coextensive with Marion County, Indianapolis has a land area of 396.4 sq mi. Included within that area are the enclaves of Lawrence, Beech Grove, Speedway, and Southport. These small communities retained local autonomy when Marion County and Indianapolis merged. But because the Indianapolis mayor’s power extends to the entire county in many matters, residents of the four communities can vote for the mayor of Indianapolis and some of its council members.

Indianapolis is at the core of a metropolitan region covering nine counties: Boone, Hamilton, Hancock, Hendricks, Johnson, Madison, Marion, Morgan, and Shelby. Encompassing 3,523.3 sq mi, the region contains a number of smaller established cities, including Anderson, Carmel, and Greenwood. With few natural barriers to restrict its growth, Indianapolis has spread outward rather than upward, and the city has a relatively low population density.

The tallest buildings appear in a ten-block area known as Mile Square, so named because the original city plat was 1 sq mi in area. This is the business and historic heart of Indianapolis. Modeled after Washington, D.C., main streets radiate from Monument Circle at the heart of Mile Square to all parts of the city. At the center of the circle is the Soldiers and Sailors Monument (dedicated in 1902), considered by many as the symbol of the city. Standing 284 ft tall, the monument is topped by a victory statue. Other notable historic structures near the city center are the Statehouse, constructed with Indiana marble and completed in 1888, and the Gothic-style Scottish Rite Cathedral, completed in 1929. The Indiana War Memorial Plaza, covering five city blocks and a popular site for festivals and events, also contains a massive memorial to the state’s military dead and the national headquarters of the American Legion. The enclosed four-square block Circle Centre Mall opened downtown in 1995. Union Station, built in 1888, was renovated in 1986 into a market and entertainment complex. The original station constructed in 1852 was the first train station in the nation to handle multiple railroad lines (thus the name "union").

Ringing the Mile Square are a number of historic districts such as Woodruff Place and Lockerbie Square. To the immediate northwest of downtown is Indiana Avenue, the historic center of the city’s black population. Some 4 mi due north of Monument Circle is the North Meridian Street Historic District, a stretch of mansions built in the 1920s and 1930s, including the Governor’s Residence. The district ends at the Central Canal, a waterway constructed in the 1830s. Office parks, shopping centers, and other large commercial structures exist at the city’s edge, especially to the north along Interstate 465.

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