The census shows that there are about 600 people in Missouri Township, the closest to the central United States

The U.S. Census Bureau announced on Tuesday that Hartville, Missouri, is the closest town to the central United States.

Once every ten years, based on the results of the census where the population currently lives, the bureau will announce a new population center. The Associated Press reported that the “heart of America” ​​has been in Missouri since 1980.

Urban planner Alex Zakrevsky previously told The Associated Press: “The aging population, continuing economic difficulties, and the impact of the pandemic have reduced the ways and reasons for Americans to move.”

According to the population history center data of the Census Bureau, this also shows the largest southward shift in history.

Hartville, Ozark, Missouri, in Wright County, is the closest population center, only about 15 miles. According to the Census Bureau, the town has approximately 600 residents.

The town was built in the 19th century, but most of the area was destroyed in the Battle of Hartwell during the American Civil War in 1863.

WSILTV According to the report, the county seat of Hartville will hold a ceremony next spring to commemorate its becoming a population center in 2020, including the unveiling of a survey monument.

Hartville Mayor Rob Tucker told Kansas City’s KSHB He is very happy that a town with such a big heart can become the “heart of America.”

According to WSILTV, finding a population center in the United States helps surveyors and demographers understand the direction and speed of population movement.

The first calculation of the population center was published in 1790, when the population center was located in Kent County, Maryland. Since then, the center has been steadily moving westward.

One of the largest movements was in the census of 1850-1860, when events such as the gold rush caused the center to move 103 miles.

Now, as more and more Americans are migrating from the north to the solar belt, this trend seems to be moving to the southwest.

For more reports from the Associated Press, please see below.

The population center of the United States is located in Plato, Missouri. After the 2010 census, the population of the neighboring county was only 82, and it moved only 11.8 miles (19 kilometers) from 2010 to 2020.

This marks the second smallest change in distance in American history. This is also the slowest transition in the past 100 years, exceeding the 13-mile movement in the 1910-1920 census.

In order to calculate the center of the United States, the Census Bureau will calculate if the 50 states are on an imaginary flat surface and have the same weight (each representing a person’s position), then which point will be the “balance point” of it.