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Centers of Population
Centers of Population
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 of one person.
2020
Centers of Population
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.
Text file containing population and mean centers of population by state/state equivalent entity for the 2020 Census.
The record layout is:
- STATEFP: 2-character state FIPS code
- STNAME: state name
- POPULATION: 2020 Census population tabulated for the state
- LATITUDE: latitude coordinate for the center of population for the state
- LONGITUDE: longitude coordinate for the center of population for the state
State/state equivalent entity-based text files containing the mean centers of population for each county/county equivalent entity within a state/state equivalent entity for the 2020 Census.
The record layout is:
- STATEFP: 2-character state FIPS code
- COUNTYFP: 3-character county FIPS code
- COUNAME: county name
- STNAME: state name
- POPULATION: 2020 Census population tabulated for the county
- LATITUDE: latitude coordinate for the center of population for the county
- LONGITUDE: longitude coordinate for the center of population for the county
State/state equivalent entity-based text files containing the mean centers of population for each census tract within a state/state equivalent entity for the 2020 Census.
The record layout is:
- STATEFP: 2-character state FIPS code
- COUNTYFP: 3-character county FIPS code
- TRACTCE: 6-character census tract code
- POPULATION: 2020 Census population tabulated for the census tract
- LATITUDE: latitude coordinate for the center of population for the census tract
- LONGITUDE: longitude coordinate for the center of population for the census tract
State/state equivalent entity-based text files containing the mean centers of population for each census block group within a state/state equivalent entity for the 2020 Census.
The record layout is:
- STATEFP: 2-character state FIPS code
- COUNTYFP: 3-character county FIPS code
- TRACTCE: 6-character census tract code
- BLKGRPCE: 1-character census block group code
- POPULATION: 2020 Census population tabulated for the block group
- LATITUDE: latitude coordinate for the center of population for the block group
- LONGITUDE: longitude coordinate for the center of population for the block group
Reference Maps
Maps illustrating the centers of population for 2020 Census.
Additional Documentation
Mean Center of Population Relative Shift by Decade
This series of plots provides a way to view the variations in movement and distance from one mean center of population to another. In these slides, the compass on the right marks the starting decade for each pair of centers. The second decade's center is plotted in relation to the compass point, with the length and angle of the line indicating the relative distance and directionality of movement. The final slide highlights the decade with the greatest distance of movement (1860), shortest distance (1920), most northerly direction (1870), and most southerly (2020).
Centers of Population Computation Methodology
Methodology used by the U.S. Census Bureau for the computation of the centers of population from 1950 to 2020.
Related Information
Page Last Revised - November 16, 2021
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