Wikipedia

Mean center of the United States population: Difference between revisions

Browse history interactively
← Previous edit
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
No edit summary
No edit summary
Tags: Mobile edit Mobile app edit Android app edit
 
(46 intermediate revisions by 27 users not shown)
Line 1:
{{Short description|Demographic statistic}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2012}}
[[ImageFile:US Mean Center of Population 1790-20102020.PNGpng|thumb|300pxupright=1.75|Map showing changes to the mean center of population for the United States, 1790–20101790–2020 (US Census Bureau)<ref>[https://www.census.gov/geo/www/2010census/centerpop2010/centerpop_mean2010.pdf{{Cite web |title=Mean Center of Population for the United States: 1790 to 2010]2020 from|url= the Uhttps://www2.Scensus.gov/geo/maps/DC2020/PopCenter/CenterPop_Mean_1790-2020.pdf Census Bureau|url-status=live website|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20211116182848/https://www2.census.gov/geo/maps/DC2020/PopCenter/CenterPop_Mean_1790-2020.pdf |archive-date=November 16, 2021 }}</ref>]]
[[Image:UScenter2020.png|thumb|upright=2|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)<ref name= center>{{Cite web|last=Bureau|first=US Census|title=Position of the Geographic Center of Area, Mean and Median Centers of Population: 2020|url=https://www.census.gov/library/visualizations/2020/geo/geographic-center-2020.html|access-date=2021-12-28|website=Census.gov}}</ref>]]
[[File:Center of population 2162923483 f183ac07bc o.jpg|thumb|The center of the US population, 13th census, near [[Bloomington, Indiana]]]]
[[File:US-center-pop.jpg|thumb|upright|The center of the US population, 13th census (1910), near [[Bloomington, Indiana]]]]
Line 6 ⟶ 8:
 
The '''mean center of the United States population''' is determined by the [[United States Census Bureau]] from the results of each national census. The Bureau defines it as follows:
{{"|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 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 onof one person. More specifically, this calculation is called the mean center of population.<ref name=calculation>[httphttps://www2.census.gov/geo/pdfs/reference/cenpop2010cenpop2020/COP2010_documentationCOP2020_documentation.pdf Centers of population computation], a [[United States Census Bureau|U.S. Census Bureau]] publication, issued MarchNovember 20112021.</ref>}}
 
After moving roughly {{convert|600|miles|abbr=on|sigfig=3}} [[Boxing the compass|west by south]] during the 19th century, the shift in the [[Center_of_population|mean center of population]] during the 20th century was less pronounced, moving {{convert|324|miles|abbr=on|sigfig=3}} west and {{convert|101|miles|abbr=on|sigfig=3}} south. Nearly 79% of the overall southerly movement happened between 1950 and 2000. Given the strong pull of Texas and Florida, the population center would be heading towards and one day entering [[Oklahoma]].
 
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 [[Median center of United States population|median center of US population]], which is not weighted by geographic distance and lies in [[Gibson County, Indiana]].
 
==Location information since 1790==
Line 17 ⟶ 21:
! Location description<ref name=calculation/>
! Decimal coordinates<ref name=calculation/>
! Distance from previous point<ref name=calculation/>
|-
| [[1790 United States Censuscensus|1790]]
| [[Kent County, Maryland]]{{efn|name=a|In the first census (1790), the mean population center was about 7.4 miles northwest by west of [[Chestertown, Maryland]].<ref name=press/>}}
| 23 miles east of [[Baltimore, Maryland|Baltimore]]
| {{coord|39.27500|N|76.18667|W|region:US_type:landmark}}
| n/a
|-
| [[1800 United States Censuscensus|1800]]
| [[Howard County, Maryland]]
| 18 miles west of Baltimore
| {{coord|39.26833|N|76.94167|W|region:US_type:landmark}}
| 52 miles (84 km)
|-
| [[1810 United States Censuscensus|1810]]
| [[Loudoun County, Virginia]]
| 40 miles northwest by west-northwest of [[Washington, D.C.]]
| {{coord|39.19167|N|77.62000|W|region:US_type:landmark}}
| 47 miles (75 km)
|-
| [[1820 United States Censuscensus|1820]]
| [[Hardy County, West Virginia]]{{efn|name=b|The mean population centers of 1820, 1830, 1840 and 1850 were in [[Virginia]] at the time of their censuses, before [[West Virginia]]'s [[Wheeling Convention|split from Virginia]] in 1863.<ref name=press/>}}
| 16 miles east of [[Moorefield, West Virginia|Moorefield]]
| {{coord|39.09500|N|78.55000|W|region:US_type:landmark}}
| 64 miles (103 km)
|-
| [[1830 United States Censuscensus|1830]]
| [[Grant County, West Virginia]]{{efn|name=b}}
| 19 miles west-southwest of Moorefield
| {{coord|38.96500|N|79.28167|W|region:US_type:landmark}}
| 51 miles (81 km)
|-
| [[1840 United States Censuscensus|1840]]
| [[Upshur County, West Virginia]]{{efn|name=b}}
| 16 miles south of [[Clarksburg, West Virginia|Clarksburg]]
| {{coord|39.03333|N|80.30000|W|region:US_type:landmark}}
| 70 miles (113 km)
|-
| [[1850 United States Censuscensus|1850]]
| [[Wirt County, West Virginia]]{{efn|name=b}}
| 23 miles southeast of [[Parkersburg, West Virginia|Parkersburg]]
| {{coord|38.98333|N|81.31667|W|region:US_type:landmark}}
| 70 miles (113 km)
|-
| [[1860 United States Censuscensus|1860]]
| [[Pike County, Ohio]]
| 20 miles south by eastsoutheast of [[Chillicothe, Ohio|Chillicothe]]
| {{coord|39.00667|N|82.81333|W|region:US_type:landmark}}
| 103 miles (166 km)
|-
| [[1870 United States Censuscensus|1870]]
| [[Highland County, Ohio]]
| 48 miles east by northnortheast of [[Cincinnati, Ohio|Cincinnati]]
| {{coord|39.20000|N|83.59500|W|region:US_type:landmark}}
| 54 miles (87 km)
|-
| [[1880 United States Censuscensus|1880]]
| [[Boone County, Kentucky]]
| 8 miles west by southsouthwest of Cincinnati
| {{coord|39.06889|N|84.66111|W|region:US_type:landmark}}
| 74 miles (119 km)
|-
| [[1890 United States Censuscensus|1890]]
| [[Decatur County, Indiana]]
| 20 miles east of [[Columbus, Indiana|Columbus]]
| {{coord|39.19889|N|85.54806|W|region:US_type:landmark}}
| 61 miles (99 km)
|-
| [[1900 United States Censuscensus|1900]]
| [[Bartholomew County, Indiana]]
| 6 miles southeast of Columbus
| {{coord|39.16000|N|85.81500|W|region:US_type:landmark}}
| 18 miles (30 km)
|-
| [[1910 United States Censuscensus|1910]]
| [[Monroe County, Indiana]]
| in the city of [[Bloomington, Indiana|Bloomington]]
| {{coord|39.17000|N|86.53889|W|region:US_type:landmark}}
| 50 miles (80 km)
|-
| [[1920 United States Censuscensus|1920]]
| [[Owen County, Indiana]]
| 8 miles south-southeast of [[Spencer, Indiana|Spencer]]
| {{coord|39.17250|N|86.72083|W|region:US_type:landmark}}
| 13 miles (20 km)
|-
| [[1930 United States Censuscensus|1930]]
| [[Greene County, Indiana]]
| 3 miles northeast of [[Linton, Indiana|Linton]]
| {{coord|39.06250|N|87.13500|W|region:US_type:landmark}}
| 29 miles (46 km)
|-
| [[1940 United States Censuscensus|1940]]
| [[Sullivan County, Indiana]]
| 2 miles southeast by east-southeast of [[Carlisle, Indiana|Carlisle]]
| {{coord|38.94833|N|87.37639|W|region:US_type:landmark}}
| 17 miles (27 km)
|-
| [[1950 United States Censuscensus|1950]]
| [[Richland County, Illinois]]{{efn|name=c|Computation method used until 1950.}}<br />[[Clay County, Illinois]]{{efn|name=d|Current computation method.}}
| 8 miles north-northwest of [[Olney, Illinois|Olney]]<br />3 miles northeast of [[Louisville, Illinois|Louisville]]
| {{coord|38.83917|N|88.15917|W|region:US_type:landmark}}<br />{{coord|38.80417|N|88.36889|W|region:US_type:landmark}}
| 54 miles (87 km)<br />69 miles (110 km)
|-
| [[1960 United States Censuscensus|1960]]
| [[Clinton County, Illinois]]{{efn|name=e|The addition of [[Alaska]] and [[Hawaii]] to the union in 1959 contributed to moving the mean center of population about {{convert|2|mi|km}} farther south and about {{convert|10|mi|km}} farther west in the 1960 census.<ref name=calculation/>}}
| 6.5 miles northwest of [[Centralia, Illinois|Centralia]]
| {{coord|38.59944|N|89.20972|W|region:US_type:landmark}}
| 58 miles (93 km)
|-
| [[1970 United States Censuscensus|1970]]
| [[Saint Clair County, Illinois|St. Clair County, Illinois]]
| 5 miles east-southeast of [[Mascoutah, Illinois|Mascoutah]]
| {{coord|38.46306|N|89.70611|W|region:US_type:landmark}}
| 34 miles (55 km)
|-
| [[1980 United States Censuscensus|1980]]
| [[Jefferson County, Missouri]]
| 0.3 mile west of [[DeSoto, Missouri|DeSoto]]
| {{coord|38.13694|N|90.57389|W|region:US_type:landmark}}
| 60 miles (96 km)
|-
| [[1990 United States Censuscensus|1990]]
| [[Crawford County, Missouri]]
| 9.7 miles southeast of [[Steelville, Missouri|Steelville]]
| {{coord|37.87222|N|91.21528|W|region:US_type:landmark}}
| 44 miles (71 km)
|-
| [[2000 United States Censuscensus|2000]]
| [[Phelps County, Missouri]]
| 2.8 miles east of [[Edgar Springs, Missouri|Edgar Springs]]
| {{coord|37.696987|N|91.809567|W|region:US_type:landmark}}<ref name=press>[https://www.census.gov/geo/www/cenpop/cb01cn66.html 2000 U.S. Population Centered in Phelps County, Mo.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121222020843/http://www.census.gov/geo/www/cenpop/cb01cn66.html |date=December 22, 2012 }}, a U.S. Census Bureau press release.</ref>
| 41 miles (66 km)
|-
| [[2010 United States Censuscensus|2010]]
| [[Texas County, Missouri]]
| 2.7 miles northeast of [[Plato, Missouri|Plato]]
| {{coord|37.517534|N|92.173096|W|region:US_type:landmark}}<ref>[https://www.census.gov/geo/www/2010census/centerpop2010/centerpop2010.html Centers of Population for the 2010 Census], U.S. Census Bureau.</ref>
| 25 miles (40 km)
|-
|[[2020 United States census|2020]]
| 2017 (estimated)
| [[Wright County, Missouri]]
| 11.315 miles southwestnortheast of Plato[[Hartville, Missouri|Hartville]]
| {{coord|37.411764415725|N|92.394544346525|W|region:US_type:landmark}}<ref name=zakrewsky>Alex Zakrewsky, Principal Plannercenter/Data Manager, Middlesex County New Jersey Office of Planning.</ref>
|12 miles (19 km)
|-
| 2020 (projected)
| [[Wright County, Missouri]]
| 8.5 miles north-northeast of [[Hartville, Missouri|Hartville]]
| {{coord|37.371644|N|92.478542|W|region:US_type:landmark}}<ref name=zakrewsky/>
|}
 
{{notelist}}
 
The {{convert|19.6|mile|km|adj=on}} shift projected for the 2010–2020 period would be the shortest centroid movement since the [[Great Depression]] intercensal period of 1930–1940.<ref name=zakrewsky/>
 
==See also==
Line 157 ⟶ 179:
{{reflist}}
 
[[Category:DemographicsDemographic history of the United States]]
[[Category:Center of population]]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mean_center_of_the_United_States_population"