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The mean population center in the United States has shifted significantly since the first census in 1790. At that time, it was near Baltimore. It has been shifting south and west ever since. By the Civil War, it had moved into Ohio. As of the 2000 census, the US mean population center was in Southeast Missouri.
I’m interested in the mean population centers of the various states. In Minnesota, the 2000 center was in the city of Rogers in Hennepin County. Rogers is a Minneapolis exurb to the northwest of the city. I suspect that it will move a bit to the south via the current census.
I noticed that. Well I was thinking southeastward, but similar.
My birth state of Arkansas seems to have the popular center in Perry County near Little Rock. Don't know if having it near the capital is common or uncommon.
I didn't find it that easy to "find this stuff." I certainly couldn't have found maps. However when I searched for "center of population"+Arkansas, I mostly got Perry County.
I guess the above gives you the longitude and latitude of state center's, but at first it just confused me. Plugging in the figure it gives for North Carolina got me someone's Wikipedia page.
I also wondered if any states had population centers near their geographic centers and a few look potentially close. The ones for Tennessee and New Mexico look fairly central in geographic terms. The Carolinas, Arkansas, and Mississippi's look to be in a fairly central area too. Delaware and New York look the most geographically off-center to me at the moment. Illinois, Louisiana, Nevada, and Oregon also look to have a "center of population" that looks fairly "off-center" in geographic terms. I can't tell though which is the closest or furthest from geographic center.
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Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
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