U.S. population center moving away from Midwest

According to recent Census information, the population center of the U.S. may be moving away from the Midwest, Salon recently reported.

The fastest growing states, Nevada, Arizona, Utah and Idaho, which the source says have surpassed population numbers for the Midwest, are all located in the Western part of the country.

The last time that the U.S. center was not located in the Midwest, according to the source, was 1850, when West Virginia held the title of the American center.

"The geography is clearly shifting, with the West beginning to emerge as America's new heartland," Robert Lang, a sociology professor at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas told Salon. "It's a pace-setting region that is dominant in population growth but also as a swing point in American politics."

Increases in the Hispanic population in the Southwest may be the cause of the shifting numbers, the source says. Census data shows that half of the population growth in Arizona since 2000 was attributable to the rising number of Hispanic residents. The statistic was echoed in seven of the eight Mountain states for children under 18, according to the source.

The increase in residents of Hispanic heritage is a national trend and is even occurring in states like Connecticut, where the Hispanic population has grown 50 percent over the past 10 years, according to The Republic.  

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