U-S Population Center Moves Slightly Southwest

Some people might describe Hartville, Missouri, as being in the middle of nowhere, but the U.S. Census Bureau on Tuesday announced that it's the closest town to the middle of the nation.

The AssociatedPress reports the hamlet of about 600 people in the Missouri Ozarks is located about 15 miles from the center of the U.S. population distribution.

The town is the type of place where families have been farming for generations, everybody knows each other and people stay for the “small-town living,” said Sabrina Gilliland, 38, a paralegal for the local prosecutor, who lives on a family farm with her four children, cattle, pigs and chickens.

Gilliland joked that her mother is “related to half the people in the town.” The four-block center of Hartville has a diner, barbershop, gas station and hair salon.

Pastor Melvin Moon, a Hartville City Council member, is hopeful the new designation brings tourists to the area known for Civil War history, antique shops and rivers popular for fishing, canoeing and kayaking. The Census Bureau will present a plaque to the town next spring.

“We are truly the heart of America,” Moon said. “This small town represents what’s great about America still: People are neighbors, people take time for each other and they help each other.”

Bypassed by interstate highways and railroads, the town doesn't have a big tax base or large industry. The local school, a nursing home, the gas station and the Dollar General store are the largest employers. There used to be a lot of farmers in the area, but it's hard to make a living that way now, Moon said.

The nation's population center is calculated every 10 years after the once-a-decade census shows where people are living. The heart of America has been located in Missouri since 1980. Previously located in Plato, Missouri, in the neighboring county, it moved only 11.8 miles (19 kilometers) southwest from 2010 to 2020. It is the smallest distance shift in 100 years and the second-smallest in U.S. history.

It also was the southernmost shift in history, said Deirdre Bishop, the Census Bureau's chief of geography.