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The concept of the center of population as used by the U.S. Census Bureau is that of a balance point. The center of population is the point at which an imaginary, weightless, rigid, and flat (no elevation effects) surface representation of the 50 states (or 48 conterminous states for calculations
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made prior to 1960) and the
District of Columbia would balance if weights of identical size were placed on it so that each weight represented the location of one person. More specifically, this calculation is called the mean center of population.
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One occasional confusion is the misconception that the point splits the US population into two equal halves, such that half of
Americans live east of the point, and the other half west of it, however, this is actually a property of the
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during the 20th century was less pronounced, moving 324 mi (521 km) west and 101 mi (163 km) south. Nearly 79% of the overall southerly movement happened between 1950 and 2000.
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to the union in 1959 contributed to moving the mean center of population about 2 miles (3.2 km) farther south and about 10 miles (16 km) farther west in the 1960 census.
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Map of the
Position of the U.S. Geographic Center of Area, Mean Center of Population, and Median Center of Population, 2020 (U.S. Census Bureau)
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Map showing changes to the mean center of population for the United States, 1790–2020 (US Census Bureau)
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In the first census (1790), the mean population center was about 7.4 miles northwest by west of
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1633:"Position of the Geographic Center of Area, Mean and Median Centers of Population: 2020"
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from the results of each national census. The Bureau defines it as follows:
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The mean population centers of 1820, 1830, 1840 and 1850 were in
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1605:"Mean Center of Population for the United States: 1790 to 2020"
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146:, which is not weighted by geographic distance and lies in
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The center of the US population, 13th census (1910), near
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2000 U.S. Population
Centered in Phelps County, Mo.
52:The center of the US population, 13th census, near
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1585:Geographic center of the contiguous United States
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130:After moving roughly 600 mi (966 km)
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115:mean center of the United States population
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134:during the 19th century, the shift in the
1726:Centers of Population for the 2010 Census
1575:Median center of United States population
1745:Demographic history of the United States
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1617:from the original on November 16, 2021.
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1580:Geographic center of the United States
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397:19 miles west-southwest of Moorefield
1716:, a U.S. Census Bureau press release.
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1530:Computation method used until 1950.
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1692:publication, issued November 2021.
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1686:Centers of population computation
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659:8 miles southwest of Cincinnati
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154:Location information since 1790
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762:6 miles southeast of Columbus
144:median center of US population
18:Mean center of U.S. population
13:
1:
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173:Distance from previous point
443:Upshur County, West Virginia
7:
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1539:Current computation method.
1028:8 miles north-northwest of
865:8 miles south-southeast of
758:Bartholomew County, Indiana
393:Grant County, West Virginia
340:Hardy County, West Virginia
291:40 miles west-northwest of
241:18 miles west of Baltimore
119:United States Census Bureau
103:GPX (secondary coordinates)
10:
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1712:December 22, 2012, at the
1221:Jefferson County, Missouri
1172:5 miles east-southeast of
1168:St. Clair County, Illinois
971:2 miles east-southeast of
496:Wirt County, West Virginia
1274:Crawford County, Missouri
1020:Richland County, Illinois
136:mean center of population
98:GPX (primary coordinates)
73:Map all coordinates using
1115:Clinton County, Illinois
967:Sullivan County, Indiana
287:Loudoun County, Virginia
81:Download coordinates as:
1461:37.415725°N 92.346525°W
1433:Wright County, Missouri
1408:37.517534°N 92.173096°W
1384:2.7 miles northeast of
1355:37.696987°N 91.809567°W
1327:Phelps County, Missouri
1278:9.7 miles southeast of
1119:6.5 miles northwest of
705:Decatur County, Indiana
237:Howard County, Maryland
1437:15 miles northeast of
1380:Texas County, Missouri
914:Greene County, Indiana
808:Monroe County, Indiana
655:Boone County, Kentucky
606:48 miles northeast of
553:20 miles southeast of
500:23 miles southeast of
148:Gibson County, Indiana
128:
67:
56:
45:
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1728:, U.S. Census Bureau.
1491:Chestertown, Maryland
1466:37.415725; -92.346525
1413:37.517534; -92.173096
1360:37.696987; -91.809567
1302:37.87222°N 91.21528°W
1249:38.13694°N 90.57389°W
1196:38.46306°N 89.70611°W
1143:38.59944°N 89.20972°W
1088:38.80417°N 88.36889°W
1057:38.83917°N 88.15917°W
1033:3 miles northeast of
1024:Clay County, Illinois
995:38.94833°N 87.37639°W
942:39.06250°N 87.13500°W
918:3 miles northeast of
889:39.17250°N 86.72083°W
836:39.17000°N 86.53889°W
783:39.16000°N 85.81500°W
733:39.19889°N 85.54806°W
680:39.06889°N 84.66111°W
630:39.20000°N 83.59500°W
602:Highland County, Ohio
577:39.00667°N 82.81333°W
524:38.98333°N 81.31667°W
471:39.03333°N 80.30000°W
418:38.96500°N 79.28167°W
368:39.09500°N 78.55000°W
315:39.19167°N 77.62000°W
262:39.26833°N 76.94167°W
212:39.27500°N 76.18667°W
184:Kent County, Maryland
167:Location description
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117:is determined by the
93:GPX (all coordinates)
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27:Demographic statistic
1750:Center of population
1570:Center of population
861:Owen County, Indiana
170:Decimal coordinates
65:Bloomington, Indiana
54:Bloomington, Indiana
1631:Bureau, US Census.
1519:split from Virginia
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1307:37.87222; -91.21528
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591:103 miles (166 km)
582:39.00667; -82.81333
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1690:U.S. Census Bureau
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382:64 miles (103 km)
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1157:58 miles (93 km)
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903:13 miles (20 km)
850:50 miles (80 km)
797:18 miles (30 km)
747:61 miles (99 km)
709:20 miles east of
644:54 miles (87 km)
549:Pike County, Ohio
432:51 miles (81 km)
344:16 miles east of
329:47 miles (75 km)
276:52 miles (84 km)
188:23 miles east of
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1640:. Retrieved
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1660:|last=
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814:Bloomington
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633: /
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555:Chillicothe
527: /
502:Parkersburg
474: /
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1739:Categories
1637:Census.gov
1591:References
1452:92°20′47″W
1449:37°24′57″N
1399:92°10′23″W
1396:37°31′03″N
1346:91°48′34″W
1343:37°41′49″N
1293:91°12′55″W
1290:37°52′20″N
1280:Steelville
1240:90°34′26″W
1237:38°08′13″N
1187:89°42′22″W
1184:38°27′47″N
1134:89°12′35″W
1131:38°35′58″N
1079:88°22′08″W
1076:38°48′15″N
1048:88°09′33″W
1045:38°50′21″N
1035:Louisville
986:87°22′35″W
983:38°56′54″N
933:87°08′06″W
930:39°03′45″N
880:86°43′15″W
877:39°10′21″N
827:86°32′20″W
824:39°10′12″N
774:85°48′54″W
771:39°09′36″N
724:85°32′53″W
721:39°11′56″N
671:84°39′40″W
668:39°04′08″N
621:83°35′42″W
618:39°12′00″N
608:Cincinnati
568:82°48′48″W
565:39°00′24″N
515:81°19′00″W
512:38°59′00″N
462:80°18′00″W
459:39°02′00″N
449:Clarksburg
409:79°16′54″W
406:38°57′54″N
359:78°33′00″W
356:39°05′42″N
346:Moorefield
306:77°37′12″W
303:39°11′30″N
253:76°56′30″W
250:39°16′06″N
203:76°11′12″W
200:39°16′30″N
161:US Census
1439:Hartville
1174:Mascoutah
1121:Centralia
190:Baltimore
1710:Archived
1652:cite web
1612:Archived
1564:See also
1521:in 1863.
1511:Virginia
973:Carlisle
711:Columbus
867:Spencer
164:County
1554:Hawaii
1550:Alaska
1227:DeSoto
920:Linton
1615:(PDF)
1608:(PDF)
1386:Plato
1030:Olney
1688:, a
1664:help
1644:2021
1552:and
1428:2020
1375:2010
1322:2000
1269:1990
1216:1980
1163:1970
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856:1920
803:1910
753:1900
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650:1880
597:1870
544:1860
491:1850
438:1840
388:1830
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282:1810
232:1800
226:n/a
179:1790
113:The
1517:'s
88:KML
1741::
1697:^
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1656::
1654:}}
1650:{{
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1666:)
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20:)
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