Mean Population Center
Critical Analysis
According to the map above, what state was home to the mean center of population for the United States in 2020?
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. The concept of the center of population as used by the U.S. Census Bureau is that of a balance point. In your own words, what does mean center of population for the United States mean?
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. What has happened to the mean center of population for the United States over the past 230+ years?
Why has the mean center of population for the United States moved in that direction over the past 230+ years?
How has that geographical movement of the mean center of population for the United States affected American politics?
How do you think the mean center of population for the United States in 1790 impacted the placement of the nation’s capital?
If we created a new national capital today where do you think we would place it?
Predict what state will contain the mean center of population for the United States will be in 40 more years.
Imagine there had been no Louisiana Purchase (1803); Texas Annexation (1845), Mexican Cession (1848); Alaska Purchase (1867); and all the expansion of the United States over the years. Where would the mean center of population for the United States be today?
Overall, how do you think the expansion of the United States as represented by the change in the mean center of population has impacted American political culture (the widely shared beliefs, values, and norms that define the relationship between citizens and government, and citizens)?
Learning Extension
This video explains what the Center of Population is and how it’s changed since the first census in 1790. See the Center of Population press kit for more information.
Action Extension
Convince ten of your best friends to help move the mean center of population for the United States ever so slightly in one direction or the other. Pick a place where you and your friends could move to impact the mean center of population for the United States in that direction and send your friends a text with instructions of where you are going.
Visual Extension
Map of seizure of Native Lands
Map of American territorial expansion
