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Map of the Position of the U.S. Geographic Center of Area, Mean Center of Population, and Median Center of Population, 2020 (U.S. Census Bureau)^[2]

The center of the US population, 13th census (1910), near Bloomington, Indiana

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The mean center of the United States population is determined by the United States Census Bureau from the results of each national census. The Bureau defines it as follows:

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. More specifically, this calculation is called the mean center of population.^[3]

After moving roughly 600 miles (966 km) west by south during the 19th century, the shift in the mean center of population during the 20th century was less pronounced, moving 324 miles (521 km) west and 101 miles (163 km) south. Nearly 79% of the overall southerly movement happened between 1950 and 2000.

One occasional confusion is the misconception that the point splits the US population into two equal halves, such that half of Americans live east of the point, and the other half west of it, however, this is actually a property of the median center of US population, which is not weighted by geographic distance and lies in Gibson County, Indiana.

Location information since 1790

US Census	County	Location description^[3]	Decimal coordinates^[3]	Distance from previous point^[3]
1790	Kent County, Maryland^[a]	23 miles east of Baltimore	39°16′30″N 76°11′12″W / 39.27500°N 76.18667°W / 39.27500; -76.18667	n/a
1800	Howard County, Maryland	18 miles west of Baltimore	39°16′06″N 76°56′30″W / 39.26833°N 76.94167°W / 39.26833; -76.94167	52 miles (84 km)
1810	Loudoun County, Virginia	40 miles west-northwest of Washington, D.C.	39°11′30″N 77°37′12″W / 39.19167°N 77.62000°W / 39.19167; -77.62000	47 miles (75 km)
1820	Hardy County, West Virginia^[b]	16 miles east of Moorefield	39°05′42″N 78°33′00″W / 39.09500°N 78.55000°W / 39.09500; -78.55000	64 miles (103 km)
1830	Grant County, West Virginia^[b]	19 miles west-southwest of Moorefield	38°57′54″N 79°16′54″W / 38.96500°N 79.28167°W / 38.96500; -79.28167	51 miles (81 km)
1840	Upshur County, West Virginia^[b]	16 miles south of Clarksburg	39°02′00″N 80°18′00″W / 39.03333°N 80.30000°W / 39.03333; -80.30000	70 miles (113 km)
1850	Wirt County, West Virginia^[b]	23 miles southeast of Parkersburg	38°59′00″N 81°19′00″W / 38.98333°N 81.31667°W / 38.98333; -81.31667	70 miles (113 km)
1860	Pike County, Ohio	20 miles southeast of Chillicothe	39°00′24″N 82°48′48″W / 39.00667°N 82.81333°W / 39.00667; -82.81333	103 miles (166 km)
1870	Highland County, Ohio	48 miles northeast of Cincinnati	39°12′00″N 83°35′42″W / 39.20000°N 83.59500°W / 39.20000; -83.59500	54 miles (87 km)
1880	Boone County, Kentucky	8 miles southwest of Cincinnati	39°04′08″N 84°39′40″W / 39.06889°N 84.66111°W / 39.06889; -84.66111	74 miles (119 km)
1890	Decatur County, Indiana	20 miles east of Columbus	39°11′56″N 85°32′53″W / 39.19889°N 85.54806°W / 39.19889; -85.54806	61 miles (99 km)
1900	Bartholomew County, Indiana	6 miles southeast of Columbus	39°09′36″N 85°48′54″W / 39.16000°N 85.81500°W / 39.16000; -85.81500	18 miles (30 km)
1910	Monroe County, Indiana	in the city of Bloomington	39°10′12″N 86°32′20″W / 39.17000°N 86.53889°W / 39.17000; -86.53889	50 miles (80 km)
1920	Owen County, Indiana	8 miles south-southeast of Spencer	39°10′21″N 86°43′15″W / 39.17250°N 86.72083°W / 39.17250; -86.72083	13 miles (20 km)
1930	Greene County, Indiana	3 miles northeast of Linton	39°03′45″N 87°08′06″W / 39.06250°N 87.13500°W / 39.06250; -87.13500	29 miles (46 km)
1940	Sullivan County, Indiana	2 miles east-southeast of Carlisle	38°56′54″N 87°22′35″W / 38.94833°N 87.37639°W / 38.94833; -87.37639	17 miles (27 km)
1950	Richland County, Illinois^[c] Clay County, Illinois^[d]	8 miles north-northwest of Olney 3 miles northeast of Louisville	38°50′21″N 88°09′33″W / 38.83917°N 88.15917°W / 38.83917; -88.15917 38°48′15″N 88°22′08″W / 38.80417°N 88.36889°W / 38.80417; -88.36889	54 miles (87 km) 69 miles (110 km)
1960	Clinton County, Illinois^[e]	6.5 miles northwest of Centralia	38°35′58″N 89°12′35″W / 38.59944°N 89.20972°W / 38.59944; -89.20972	58 miles (93 km)
1970	St. Clair County, Illinois	5 miles east-southeast of Mascoutah	38°27′47″N 89°42′22″W / 38.46306°N 89.70611°W / 38.46306; -89.70611	34 miles (55 km)
1980	Jefferson County, Missouri	0.3 mile west of DeSoto	38°08′13″N 90°34′26″W / 38.13694°N 90.57389°W / 38.13694; -90.57389	60 miles (96 km)
1990	Crawford County, Missouri	9.7 miles southeast of Steelville	37°52′20″N 91°12′55″W / 37.87222°N 91.21528°W / 37.87222; -91.21528	44 miles (71 km)
2000	Phelps County, Missouri	2.8 miles east of Edgar Springs	37°41′49″N 91°48′34″W / 37.696987°N 91.809567°W / 37.696987; -91.809567^[4]	41 miles (66 km)
2010	Texas County, Missouri	2.7 miles northeast of Plato	37°31′03″N 92°10′23″W / 37.517534°N 92.173096°W / 37.517534; -92.173096^[5]	25 miles (40 km)
2020	Wright County, Missouri	15 miles northeast of Hartville	37°24′57″N 92°20′47″W / 37.415725°N 92.346525°W / 37.415725; -92.346525^[2]	12 miles (19 km)

^ In the first census (1790), the mean population center was about 7.4 miles northwest by west of Chestertown, Maryland.^[4]
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d The mean population centers of 1820, 1830, 1840 and 1850 were in Virginia at the time of their censuses, before 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 in 1959 contributed to moving the mean center of population about 2 miles (3.2 km) farther south and about 10 miles (16 km) farther west in the 1960 census.^[3]