History
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Notable Maps
Centers of Population
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Mean Centers of Population Following Each Census
(Photo Courtesy of Census Bureau Geography Division)
This map shows the mean center of the population of the United States following each census. As residents of the United States migrated westward, so did the mean center of the population; it has shifted from Maryland's Kent County the Delmarva Peninsula in 1790 to Phelps County in central Missouri in 2000. The mean center of population has also shifted southward since the mid-twentieth century, a result of both domestic and international migration and larger average household sizes in many Sun Belt states.
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