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Old 10-05-2014, 04:05 AM
 
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Thought this would interest some people ... the states that are less centralized naturally have population centers closer to their geographic centers.

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Old 10-05-2014, 06:22 AM
 
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I don't think I'm understanding this. And forgive me because I'm just a long time lurker of this forum who signed up yesterday. I'm not a city guru by any means.

By population center I'm assuming that means where the highest populated areas are of each state? Why does Miami not have a tag on it but center FL does? And same thing for GA. Some small place south of Atlanta has a tag but not the city if Atlanta. I'm pretty sure Atlanta is the largest city in GA and same thing for Miami. Although I could be wrong because FL has quite a few decent sized cities (Tampa, Jacksonville, Orlando, etc.).
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Old 10-05-2014, 10:13 AM
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Location: Western Massachusetts
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is this by median or mean distance?

California's is close to where the norther/southern California is divided.
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Old 10-05-2014, 09:04 PM
 
Location: Jersey City
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bishwhat View Post
I don't think I'm understanding this. And forgive me because I'm just a long time lurker of this forum who signed up yesterday. I'm not a city guru by any means.

By population center I'm assuming that means where the highest populated areas are of each state? Why does Miami not have a tag on it but center FL does? And same thing for GA. Some small place south of Atlanta has a tag but not the city if Atlanta. I'm pretty sure Atlanta is the largest city in GA and same thing for Miami. Although I could be wrong because FL has quite a few decent sized cities (Tampa, Jacksonville, Orlando, etc.).
No, imagine you draw a line across the state from east to west, and place it where you'd have an equal number of people north of that line and south of that line. Then draw a line from north to south in a spot where you'd have an equal number of people east of the line and west of the line. Where those two lines intersect is where the median center of population is located. This is a way of illustrating where the population of a state is weighted. For example, look at the point for New York State. It's pretty far downstate, because there's a huge population downstate relative to upstate. You have as many people living in the smaller area south of that point as you do in the huge area north of that point.
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Old 10-06-2014, 06:08 AM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lammius View Post
No, imagine you draw a line across the state from east to west, and place it where you'd have an equal number of people north of that line and south of that line. Then draw a line from north to south in a spot where you'd have an equal number of people east of the line and west of the line. Where those two lines intersect is where the median center of population is located. This is a way of illustrating where the population of a state is weighted. For example, look at the point for New York State. It's pretty far downstate, because there's a huge population downstate relative to upstate. You have as many people living in the smaller area south of that point as you do in the huge area north of that point.
Thanks for explaining! Makes much more sense now.
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Old 10-06-2014, 07:33 AM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lammius View Post
No, imagine you draw a line across the state from east to west, and place it where you'd have an equal number of people north of that line and south of that line. Then draw a line from north to south in a spot where you'd have an equal number of people east of the line and west of the line. Where those two lines intersect is where the median center of population is located. This is a way of illustrating where the population of a state is weighted. For example, look at the point for New York State. It's pretty far downstate, because there's a huge population downstate relative to upstate. You have as many people living in the smaller area south of that point as you do in the huge area north of that point.
Thanks! I forgot how to explain it exactly but that's correct.
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Old 10-06-2014, 10:41 AM
 
Location: Eindhoven, Netherlands
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Population center of Hawaii in the Ocean

Expected the population centers of Oregon, Utah and Illinois to be a little bit more to the South.
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Old 10-06-2014, 01:25 PM
 
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Turns out many state capitals are not too badly located with respect to the present-day population centers.

FL, CA, IL, and NY don't do so well on this score though.

I was surprised WI's population center is as far north and west as it is.

It looks like all the Mid-Atlantic state population centers are moving closer to DC, including WV's.
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Old 10-06-2014, 01:31 PM
 
Location: Milwaukee
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ki0eh View Post
I was surprised WI's population center is as far north and west as it is.
Me, too, but Green Bay/Fox Valley/lakeshore cities pull it north a bit, and there are a lot of small cities (Wausau, Stevens Point, La Crosse, Eau Claire) north and north-central that must drag it NW a bit. It's not like Minnesota, where well over half the entire population (of a bigger landmass) is in one metro.
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