MEAN CENTER OF POPULATION FOR THE U.S.: 1790 TO 2020

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 surface representation of the 50 states 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.  The 2020 national mean center of population is 37.415725 N, 92.346525 W, the most western and southern mean center of population point in our nation’s history. The 2020 center of population is 11.8 miles from the 2010 center and 885.9 miles from the 1790 center. Hartville, Missouri, the nearest incorporated municipality to the 2020 center of population, is a town of 594 people in Wright County, Missouri.