This MedLibrary.org supplementary page on Mean center of United States population is provided directly from the open source Wikipedia as a service to our readers. Please see the note below on authorship of this content, as well as the Wikipedia usage guidelines. To search for other content from our encyclopedia supplement, please use the form below:
Related Sponsors
The mean center of U.S. population is determined by the United States Census Bureau after tabulating the results of each census. The Bureau defines it to be:
“
the point at which an imaginary, flat, weightless, and rigid map of the United States would balance perfectly if weights of identical value were placed on it so that each weight represented the location of one person on the date of the census.1”
During the 20th century, the mean center of population has shifted 324 miles (521 km) west and 101 miles (163 km) south. The southerly movement was much stronger during the second half of the century; 79 miles (127 km) of the 101 miles (163 km) happened between 1950 and 2000.
The following map shows the shifting of the mean center of U.S. population since 1790:2
The following lists location information of the mean center of U.S. population since 1790:
| US Census | County | Location description 3 | decimal Coordinates 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1790 | Kent County, Maryland 1.) | 23 miles east of Baltimore. | |
| 1800 | Howard County, Maryland | 18 miles west of Baltimore. | |
| 1810 | Loudoun County, Virginia | 40 miles northwest by west of Washington, DC. | |
| 1820 | Hardy County, Virginia (now in W. Virginia) 2.) | 16 miles east of Moorefield. | |
| 1830 | Grant County, Virginia (now in W. Virginia) 2.) | 19 miles west-southwest of Morefiled. | |
| 1840 | Upshur County, Virginia (now in W. Virginia) 2.) | 16 miles south of Clarksburg. | |
| 1850 | Wirt County, Virginia (now in W. Virginia) 2.) | 23 miles southeast of Parkersburg. | |
| 1860 | Pike County, Ohio | 20 miles south by east of Chillcothe. | |
| 1870 | Highland County, Ohio | 48 miles east by north of Cincinnati. | |
| 1880 | Boone County, Kentucky | 8 miles west by south of Cincinnati, OH. | |
| 1890 | Decatur County, Indiana | 20 miles east of Columbus. | |
| 1900 | Bartholomew County, Indiana | 6 miles southeast of Columbus. | |
| 1910 | Monroe County, Indiana | in the city of Bloomington. | |
| 1920 | Owen County, Indiana | 8 miles south-southeast of Spencer. | |
| 1930 | Greene County, Indiana | 3 miles northeast of Linton. | |
| 1940 | Sullivan County, Indiana | 2 miles southeast by east of Carlisle. | |
| 1950 | Richland County, Illinois 3.) | 8 miles north-northwest of Olney. 3.) | 3.) |
| 1950 | Clay County, Illinois 4.) | 3 miles northeast of Louisville. 4.) | 4.) |
| 1960 | Clinton County, Illinois 5.) | 6-1/2 miles northwest of Centralia. 5.) | 5.) |
| 1970 | St. Clair County, Illinois | 5 miles east-southeast of Mascoutah. | |
| 1980 | Jefferson County, Missouri | 1/4 mile west of DeSoto. | |
| 1990 | Crawford County, Missouri | 9.7 miles southeast of Steelville. | |
| 2000 | Phelps County, Missouri | 2.8 miles east of Edgar Springs | 4 |
Notes on the table data
- ) In the first census, 1790, the mean population center was located near Chestertown, Maryland.4
- ) Although the mean population centers between 1820 and 1860 were located in what is present day West Virginia, at the time they were located in Virginia (with West Virginia not having split from Virginia until 1862).4
- ) census 1950, computation method used until 1950
- ) census 1950, current computation method
- ) The addition of Alaska and Hawaii to the union lead to a different calculation with the effect of moving the center about two miles farther south and about ten miles farther west for 1960 3.
See also
References
- ^ Geographic population centerfrom the U.S. Census Bureau website
- ^ Mean Center of Population for the United States: 1790 to 2000 from the U.S. Census Bureau website
- ^ a b c Centers of population computation, a U.S. Census Bureau publication, Issued April 2001
- ^ a b c 2000 U.S. Population Centered in Phelps County, Mo., a U.S. Census Bureau press release
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 29 September 2008, at 08:19.
Wikipedia Authorship and Review
Wikipedia content provided here is not reviewed directly by MedLibrary.org. Wikipedia content is authored by an open community of volunteers and is not produced by or in any way affiliated with MedLibrary.org.
Wikipedia Usage Guidelines
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article on "Mean center of United States population".
The URL for this specific entry is:
All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details). Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.