2020 U.S. Population Center

Hartville, Missouri

It took two years, but Hartville finally got a monument marking it as the "Center of Population 2020." The monument, a silvery disk inset into the top of a small red granite pedestal, was dedicated with much fanfare on September 21, 2022, in Hartville City Park. "City" is a stretch: according to the 2020 census, Hartville had a population of 594.

As is often the case with Population Centers (determined every ten years), the monument that marks it is not placed at the true Center, which can be on private land or otherwise inaccessible, but in the nearest town where people can see it. In 2020, Hartville was the lucky closest community to a Center that is actually 14.6 miles away, in a farmer's field. There's a marker there, too -- a tiny one -- but it will be seen by far more cows than people.

U.S. Census Bureau director Robert Santos, who unveiled the monument in Hartville, noted that the Population Center had shifted less than 12 miles from its 2010 location: the even tinier town of Plato, Missouri. It was the second-smallest shift in U.S. history, which maybe indicates a trend or maybe not; no one will really know until 2030.

"You'll be famous," Census Bureau director Santos told the Hartville crowd. It's a fame that lasts just ten years, and is best appreciated by those who take road trips to Population Center monuments, or by those who feel most comfortable at the center of things.