This is a list ofgeographic centers of eachU.S. state and inhabitedterritory. Thegeographic center of the United States is northeast ofBelle Fourche inButte County, South Dakota (44°58′N103°46′W / 44.967°N 103.767°W /44.967; -103.767),[1] while that of thecontiguous 48 states is nearLebanon inSmith County, Kansas (39°50′N98°35′W / 39.833°N 98.583°W /39.833; -98.583 (Geographic Center of the Contiguous United States)).[1] The geographic center ofNorth America lies nearRugby, North Dakota (48°10′N100°10′W / 48.167°N 100.167°W /48.167; -100.167), though this designation has no official status.[1] In 2017, a new calculation of the geographic center of North America placed it near the town ofCenter, North Dakota.[2]
The list given below has been only slightly modified since it was first produced by theU.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in the early 1920s.[3] 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.[4] The result is dependent upon the type of projection used.
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."[7] An updated list of geographic centers using this definition (which is equivalent to the state'scentroid) is given below. It was derived by minimizing the sum of squaredgreat 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.[8]
Thegeographic center of the contiguous United States, determined in this way, is at39°50.13′N99°5.45′W / 39.83550°N 99.09083°W /39.83550; -99.09083 (Geographic center of the Geographic center of the Contiguous United States); this is 5.4 miles (8.7 km) fromAgra, Kansas, 5.7 miles (9.2 km) from Kensington, Kansas, and 26.9 great circle miles (43.3 km) west of the longstanding designated site nearLebanon, Kansas.
Very little information exists about the geographic centers of theU.S. territories. In a geological survey of all geographic centers in the U.S., theU.S. Department of the Interior did not measure the geographic centers of the U.S. territories.[9] Similarly, the USGS does not include the territories in its list of geographic centers.[1] In terms of each territory’s land area, only one territory,Puerto Rico, has a confirmed geographic center.[10] There are also official geographic centers of territorialexclusive economic zones, though those geographic centers are based on a territory'sterritorial waters (not land area).
| Territory | County- equivalent | Location | Coordinates |
|---|---|---|---|
 American Samoa | North of Manu’a District (EEZ) Eastern District (Tutuila center) | The geographic center of American Samoa’sexclusive economic zone (EEZ) is located in thePacific Ocean, about 35.08 miles (56.45 km) northeast of the island ofTa‘ū.[11] The geographic center ofTutuila (the main island) is about 1.03 miles (1.65 km) southwest ofFagatogo.[12] | 13°51′06″S169°03′27″W / 13.8517°S 169.0576°W /-13.8517; -169.0576 (Geographic center of the Exclusive Economic Zone of American Samoa) (EEZ center) 14°17′24″S170°42′10″W / 14.2901°S 170.7028°W /-14.2901; -170.7028 (Geographic center of Tutuila island, American Samoa) (Tutuila center) |
 Guam | Guam[note 2] | The geographic center of Guam’s exclusive economic zone is in the Pacific Ocean, about 73.65 miles (118.53 km) west-southwest ofCocos Island and 76.08 miles (122.45 km) west-southwest of the main island of Guam.[13] The exact geographic center of the main island of Guam is unknown[14] — it is probably somewhere within the village ofChalan Pago-Ordot, because that is the default center starting point of Guam onGoogle Maps.[15] | 12°58′37″N143°34′53″E / 12.9770°N 143.5814°E /12.9770; 143.5814 (Geographic center of the Exclusive Economic Zone of Guam) (Center of EEZ) 13°26′38″N144°46′02″E / 13.4440°N 144.7671°E /13.4440; 144.7671 (Chalan Pago-Ordot village, Guam)) (Chalan Pago-Ordot) |
 Northern Mariana Islands | Northern Islands Municipality | 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 ofPagan.[16] | 18°19′06″N146°01′42″E / 18.3183°N 146.0284°E /18.3183; 146.0284 (Geographic center of the Exclusive Economic Zone of the Northern Mariana Islands) (EEZ center) |
 Puerto Rico | Orocovis Municipality | The geographic center of Puerto Rico is in theOrocovis Municipality, about 2.58 miles (4.15 km) west of the main town of Orocovis.[10] | 18°13′20″N66°25′49″W / 18.2223°N 66.4303°W /18.2223; -66.4303 (Geometric center of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico) |
 U.S. Virgin Islands | BetweenSaint Thomas andSaint Croix | 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 theCaribbean Sea,[15] 18.21 miles (29.30 km) south-southeast ofSaint Thomas and 18.31 miles (29.47 km) north ofSaint Croix — note that this point is the approximate center of the 3 main islands, not the center of the exclusive economic zone | 18°20′N64°54′W / 18.34°N 64.90°W /18.34; -64.90 (Geometric center of the Virgin Islands of the United States) |
 U.S. Minor Outlying Islands | [note 3] | 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). |
