The Population Center of the United States

The 2010 Census determined that the small Missouri town of Plato was the Population Center of the USA.

The Census Bureau erected a monument in the center of town.

The monument is across from the bank and next to the post office.

Every ten years the Bureau determines a new Center of Population, and it is usually further west and a little south of the previous one.

The actual point calculated to be the Center of Population wasn’t in the middle of town - it was in the woods, two miles away.

On private property, part of the old Hartzog Ranch.

Across a pasture and into a thicket,

where a Federal survey team marked the spot with a pile of stones, now tended by locals.