A Minecraft beacon’s effect radius goes up to 50 blocks horizontally from the beacon when it is fully powered (4‑layer pyramid), giving you a 100×100 square area around it.

Basic beacon range

  • The beacon’s effect spreads out horizontally in all directions from the beacon block.
  • The maximum range with a full 4‑layer pyramid is 50 blocks in every direction, so from X=0 it would reach out to X=‑50 and X=50.

Range by pyramid size

Most guides and community tests agree that the beacon effect range scales with base size like this:

  • 1‑layer pyramid: about 20‑block radius.
  • 2‑layer pyramid: about 30‑block radius.
  • 3‑layer pyramid: about 40‑block radius.
  • 4‑layer pyramid (max): 50‑block radius.

This means you only need a fully powered beacon roughly every 90–100 blocks to keep continuous effects while walking in a straight line.

Vertical reach

  • Horizontally, the beacon has a fixed radius based on pyramid size.
  • Vertically, the effect extends down below the beacon and upward with effectively no limit, as long as you remain within the horizontal radius.

So if you place a full beacon at bedrock, you can still have its effects at build height anywhere inside that 50‑block horizontal radius.

TL;DR: For the common question “how far does a beacon reach” in Minecraft, the answer is up to a 50‑block radius horizontally with a full 4‑layer base, and the effect continues upward as high as you can go.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.