U.S. Census Announces Minnesota's New 'Center Of Population'

ROGERS, MN — Minnesota's mean center of population is still in the city of Rogers, the United States Census announced this month, but it has shifted about a mile closer to Minneapolis.

Centers of populations show where the general population is growing and moving.

"Every 10 years, since the first census in 1790, the Census Bureau has calculated the 'center of population,' which is a point at where an imaginary, flat, weightless and rigid map of the United States would balance perfectly if everyone were of identical weight," the agency said in a news release.

"This point represents the average location of where people in the United States live."

The new center for Minnesota reflects the growing population of the Twin Cities metro area.

1. Minnesota's mean center of population, 2010: +45.203555,-093.571903
2. Minnesota's mean center of population, 2020: +45.189990,-093.558751

The center of population for the United States is now near Hartville, a town of about 600 people in Missouri. Overall, the nation's population continues to move southwestward, with more people leaving the Northeast and Midwest for the Sun Belt.

"The movement of the center of population helps tell the story of this century’s migration South and West," said Ron Jarmin, the Census Bureau’s acting director.

"It helps visualize where we live."

Various Missouri towns have been home to the national population center since 1980:

1790: Kent County, Maryland

1800: Howard County, Maryland

1810: Loudoun County, Virginia

1820: Hardy County, West Virginia

1830: Grant County, West Virginia

1840: Upshur County, West Virginia

1850: Wirt County, West Virginia

1860: Pike County, Ohio

1870: Highland County, Ohio

1880: Boone County, Kentucky

1890: Decatur County, Indiana

1900: Bartholomew County, Indiana

1910: Monroe County, Indiana

1920: Owen County, Indiana

1930: Greene County, Indiana

1940: Sullivan County, Indiana

1950: Clay County, Illinois

1960: Clinton County, Illinois

1970: St. Clair County, Illinois

1980: Jefferson County, Missouri

1990: Crawford County, Missouri

2000: Phelps County, Missouri

2010: Texas County, Missouri

2020: Wright County, Missouri