Plato, Missouri, population 109, is the new center of the United States, notes the Kansas City Star. At least in that weird Census Bureau kind of way: “The place where an imaginary, flat, weightless and rigid map of the United States would balance perfectly if all 308,745,538 residents counted in the 2010 census were of identical weight.” The bigger picture is that this means the nation's population continues its shift south and to the west.
The center in 2000 was Edgar Springs, Missouri, about 23 miles northeast of Plato. And in 1990, it was Steelville, also in Missouri and about 30 miles northeast of Edgar Springs, notes AP. As for Plato, the local Houston Herald has this quote (exactly the one you expected) from Rep. Jo Ann Emerson: "No matter where you live in America, you would find a warm welcome if you came to Plato and sat down for coffee in the morning." To read how the nation's Hispanic population has reached a milestone in the new census, click here. (More US Census stories.)
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