List of geographic centers of the United States explained

This is a list of geographic centers of each U.S. state and inhabited territory. The geographic center of the United States is northeast of Belle Fourche in Butte County, South Dakota (44.9667°N -149°W), while that of the contiguous 48 states is near Lebanon in Smith County, Kansas (39.8333°N -133°W). The geographic center of North America lies near Rugby, North Dakota (48.1667°N -110°W), though this designation has no official status. In 2017, a new calculation of the geographic center of North America placed it near the town of Center, North Dakota.[1]

Historic list of geographic centers

The list given below has been only slightly modified since it was first produced by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in the early 1920s.[2] At that time, the center for a state was found by suspending a cardboard cutout of the state by a string, and then drawing a vertical line from the suspension point. After rotating the cutout 90 degrees and drawing another vertical line from the new suspension point, the intersection of the two vertical lines was used as the geographic center.[3] The result is dependent upon the type of projection used.

Geographic centers of the states of the United States and the District of Columbia
State or
federal district
CountyLocationCoordinates
32.8347°N -86.6333°W
64.7317°N -152.47°W
Camp Verde34.5667°N -111.8561°W
34.6358°N -92.4783°W
39°N -105.5452°W
District of Columbia
[4]
44.2697°N -114.7344°W
39.7393°N -89.5036°W
39.766°N -86.4413°W
45.2533°N -69.2333°W
42.3771°N -71.9253°W
47.0644°N -109.6669°W
41.525°N -99.8617°W
43.685°N -71.5772°W
40.07°N -74.5583°W
34.4381°N -106.1122°W
41.6717°N -71.5767°W
33.8369°N -80.925°W
31.3915°N -99.1707°W
39.3081°N -111.6389°W
44.4378°N -90.1302°W
58miles east-northeast of Lander[5] 43°N -107.5452°W

Modern list of geographic centers

Although there have been different definitions offered for the geographic center, an intuitive one, and one used by the USGS, is "the center of gravity of the surface, or that point on which the surface of the area would balance if it were a plane of uniform thickness."[6] An updated list of geographic centers using this definition (which is equivalent to the state's centroid) is given below. It was derived by minimizing the sum of squared great circle distances from all points of land in a state (including islands, but not coastal waters, following the earlier practice of the USGS). It represents a slight improvement over the list originally published.[7]

The geographic center of the contiguous United States, determined in this way, is at 39.8355°N -104.45°W; this is from Agra, Kansas, from Kensington, Kansas, and 26.9 great circle miles (43.3 km) west of the longstanding designated site near Lebanon, Kansas.

Updated geographic centers of the states of the United States and the District of Columbia
State or
federal district
LocationCoordinates
12.1miles southwest of Clanton32.7794°N -86.8287°W
77.9miles northwest of Denali64.0685°N -152.2782°W
49.7miles east-southeast of Prescott34.2744°N -111.6602°W
14.2miles northwest of Little Rock34.8938°N -92.4426°W
36miles northeast of Madera37.1841°N -119.4696°W
29.2miles northwest of Pikes Peak38.9972°N -105.5478°W
1.1miles east of East Berlin41.6219°N -72.7273°W
11.7miles south of Dover38.9896°N -75.505°W
Near 3rd and P Streets, Northwest38.9101°N -77.0147°W
5.8miles northwest of Brooksville28.6305°N -82.4497°W
Georgia17.7miles southeast of Macon32.6415°N -83.4426°W
27.7miles off-shore south of Wailea-Makena20.2927°N -156.3737°W
21.4miles west-southwest of Challis44.3509°N -114.613°W
28.8miles northeast of Springfield40.0417°N -89.1965°W
10.8miles northwest of Indianapolis39.8942°N -86.2816°W
7miles northeast of Ames42.0751°N -93.496°W
2.1miles southeast of Bushton Bend38.4937°N -98.3804°W
3.4miles southwest of Lebanon37.5347°N -85.3021°W
5.8miles southeast of Marksville31.0689°N -91.9968°W
12.6miles north of Dover-Foxcroft45.3695°N -69.2428°W
3.3miles north of Bowie39.055°N -76.7909°W
Irving St. and Wellington St., Worcester42.2596°N -71.8083°W
6.6miles west of Cadillac44.3467°N -85.4102°W
10miles southwest of Brainerd46.2807°N -94.3053°W
7.7miles west-northwest of Carthage32.7364°N -89.6678°W
21miles southwest of Jefferson City38.3566°N -92.458°W
10.1miles west of Lewistown47.0527°N -109.6333°W
12.3miles northwest of Broken Bow41.5378°N -99.7951°W
26miles southeast of Austin39.3289°N -116.6312°W
2.6miles east of Ashland43.6805°N -71.5811°W
4.3miles southeast of Trenton40.1907°N -74.6728°W
13.8miles south-southwest of Willard34.4071°N -106.1126°W
New York11.5miles south-southeast of Oneida42.9538°N -75.5268°W
12.7miles northwest of Sanford35.5557°N -79.3877°W
2.7miles southwest of McClusky47.4501°N -100.4659°W
24.9miles north-northeast of Columbus40.2862°N -82.7937°W
4.4miles south of Edmond35.5889°N -97.4943°W
29.1miles southeast of Prineville43.9336°N -120.5583°W
2.7miles southwest of Bellefonte, in State College40.8781°N -77.7996°W
2.4miles west of Crompton, in West Warwick41.6762°N -71.5562°W
9.7miles southeast of Columbia33.9169°N -80.8964°W
7.9miles northeast of Pierre44.4443°N -100.2263°W
2.5miles northeast of Murfreesboro35.858°N -86.3505°W
23.6miles north of Brady31.4757°N -99.3312°W
3.1miles northwest of Manti39.3055°N -111.6703°W
3.7miles southeast of Roxbury44.0687°N -72.6658°W
16.6miles west of Buckingham37.5215°N -78.8537°W
Washington7miles west-southwest of Wenatchee47.3826°N -120.4472°W
4.9miles east-southeast of Sutton38.6409°N -80.6227°W
9.3miles east-southeast of Marshfield44.6243°N -89.9941°W
60.6miles east-northeast of Lander42.9957°N -107.5512°W

Geographic centers of the U.S. territories

Very little information exists about the geographic centers of the U.S. territories. In a geological survey of all geographic centers in the U.S., the U.S. Department of the Interior did not measure the geographic centers of the U.S. territories.[8] Similarly, the USGS does not include the territories in its list of geographic centers.[9] In terms of each territory’s land area, only one territory, Puerto Rico, has a confirmed geographic center. There are also official geographic centers of territorial exclusive economic zones, though those geographic centers are based on a territory's territorial waters (not land area).

Geographic centers of the U.S. territories
TerritoryCounty-
equivalent
LocationCoordinates
North of
Manu’a District (EEZ)
Eastern District
(Tutuila center)
The geographic center of American Samoa’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) is located in the Pacific Ocean, about 35.08 miles (56.45 km) northeast of the island of Ta‘ū.[10]
The geographic center of Tutuila (the main island) is about 1.03 miles (1.65 km) southwest of Fagatogo.[11]
-13.8517°N -169.0576°W
(EEZ center)
-14.2901°N -170.7028°W
(Tutuila center)
Guam The geographic center of Guam’s exclusive economic zone is in the Pacific Ocean, about 73.65 miles (118.53 km) west-southwest of Cocos Island and 76.08 miles (122.45 km) west-southwest of the main island of Guam.[12]
The exact geographic center of the main island of Guam is unknown[13] — it is probably somewhere within the village of Chalan Pago-Ordot, because that is the default center starting point of Guam on Google Maps.[14]
12.977°N 143.5814°W
(Center of EEZ)
13.444°N 144.7671°W
(Chalan Pago-Ordot)
The geographic center of the Northern Mariana Islands’ exclusive economic zone is in the Pacific Ocean, about 18.33 miles (29.50 km) northeast of the island of Pagan.[15] 18.3183°N 146.0284°W
(EEZ center)
The geographic center of Puerto Rico is in the Orocovis Municipality, about 2.58 miles (4.15 km) west of the main town of Orocovis.[16] 18.2223°N -66.4303°W
The exact geographic center of the U.S. Virgin Islands is unknown — the default center starting point for the U.S. Virgin Islands on Google Maps is located in the Caribbean Sea, 18.21 miles (29.30 km) south-southeast of Saint Thomas and 18.31 miles (29.47 km) north of Saint Croix — note that this point is the approximate center of the 3 main islands, not the center of the exclusive economic zone 18.34°N -64.9°W
There is no information about the geographic centers of the islands in the U.S. Minor Outlying Islands (or the U.S. Minor Outlying Islands as a whole).

See also

Works cited

Notes and References

  1. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/new-calculations-reposition-geographical-center-north-america-1-180961932/ Smithsonian.com. New Calculations Reposition the Geographical Center of North America. Jason Daley. January 30, 2017. Retrieved June 2019.
  2. Douglas, E.M. 1923. Boundaries, Areas, Geographic Centers, and Altitudes of the United States and Several States. Bulletin 689. U.S. Geological Survey, Washington, DC.
  3. Adams, Oscar, S. 1932. Geographical Centers. The Military Engineer 24, 138: 586-587.
  4. A marker, dated 1981, at a nearby road intersection states: "The Geologic Survey Branch of the Department of Natural Resources determined the central point to be at latitude 32° 38' 46" N., longitude 83° 25' 54" W."
  5. Web site: The Geography of Wyoming. Netstate.com. 25 February 2016. 9 August 2021.
  6. Van Zandt, Franklin. 1966. Boundaries of the United States and the Several States. Bulletin 1212. U.S. Geological Survey, Washington, DC.
  7. Rogerson, P. 2015. A New Method for Finding Geographic Centers, with Application to the U.S. States. The Professional Geographer. Published online Aug 15, 2015; DOI:10.1080/00330124.2015.1062707 http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00330124.2015.1062707#.Vd30QflVhBc Retrieved 2015-08-26
  8. https://pubs.usgs.gov/unnumbered/70039437/report.pdf "Geographic centers of the United States." U.S. Department of the Interior. Retrieved June 2019.
  9. https://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/Elevations-Distances/elvadist.html ‘’Elevations and Distances in the United States.’’ USGS. Retrieved June 2019.
  10. http://www.marineregions.org/gazetteer.php?p=details&id=8444 Marineregions.org. Marine Gazetteer Placedetails — American Samoa Exclusive Economic Zone. Retrieved July 3, 2019.
  11. https://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/oceania/as.htm Worldatlas.com. American Samoa. Retrieved July 3, 2019.
  12. http://www.marineregions.org/gazetteer.php?p=details&id=48957 Marineregions.org. Marine Gazetteer Placedetails. Guam Exclusive Economic Zone. Retrieved June 2019.
  13. https://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/oceania/gu.htm Worldatlas.com. Guam. Retrieved July 3, 2019.
  14. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Guam
    https://www.google.com/maps/place/USVI
    Google Mpas — Guam / U.S. Virgin Islands. Retrieved July 3, 2019.
  15. http://www.marineregions.org/gazetteer.php?p=details&id=48980 Marineregions.org. Marine Gazetteer Placedetails — Northern Mariana Islands Exclusive Economic Zone. Retrieved June 2019.
  16. http://disfrutaorocovis.com/en/historic-sites-2/geographic-center-of-puerto-rico Disfruta Orocovis. Geographic Center of Puerto Rico. Retrieved June 2019.