Mean center of United States population
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Mean center of United States population
The mean center of U.S. population is determined by the United States Census Bureau from 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.[2]
After moving roughly 600 mi (966 km) West by south during the 19th century, during the 20th century the shift in the mean center of population was less pronounced, moving 324 mi (521 km) west and 101 mi (163 km) south. The southerly movement was much stronger during the second half of the 20th century; 79% of the southerly movement happened between 1950 and 2000.
The following lists location information of the mean center of U.S. population since 1790:
The 20.9 mile shift projected for the 2010–2020 period would be the shortest centroid movement since the Great Depression intercensus period of 1930–1940. [8]
Notes on the table data
- In the first census (1790) the mean population center was near Chestertown, Maryland.[4]
- The mean population centers of 1820, 1830, 1840 and 1850 were in what is now West Virginia, given West Virginia's split from Virginia in 1863.[4]
- Computation method used until 1950
- Current computation method
- The addition of Alaska and Hawaii to the union moved the center about two miles (3 km) farther south and about ten miles (16 km) farther west in 1960.[3]
See also
- Center of population
- Median center of United States population
- Geographic center of the United States
- Geographic center of the contiguous United States
References
- ^ Mean Center of Population for the United States: 1790 to 2010 from the U.S. Census Bureau website
- ^ Geographic population center 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
- ^ Centers of Population for the 2010 Census, U.S. Census Bureau
- ^ Alex Zakrewsky, Principal Planner/Data Manager, Middlesex County New Jersey Office of Planning
- ^ Alex Zakrewsky, Principal Planner/Data Manager, Middlesex County New Jersey Office of Planning
- ^ Alex Zakrewsky, Principal Planner/Data Manager, Middlesex County New Jersey Office of Planning
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