There is no consensus regarding the geographical boundaries of America's heartland. However, the American Midwest is the most commonly cited area as being the nation's heartland, although many other places have been referred to as part of it, often extending to rural or farming regions in the Great Plains. At least as early as 2010, the term
Heartland has been used to refer to many so-called "
red states", including those in the
Bible Belt. According to the
United States Census Bureau, the
mean center of population in the US in 2010 was in or around
Texas County, Missouri. In 2000, it had been northeast from there, in
Phelps County, Missouri. It is projected for the mean center of population to leave the Midwest and enter the
Western United States by the mid-21st century. The
geographic center of the 48 contiguous states is near
Lebanon, Kansas. When
Alaska and
Hawaii were admitted to the Union in 1959, the
geographic center of the United States moved from
Smith County, Kansas to
Butte County, South Dakota. The largest city by population in the American heartland is
Chicago, Illinois with a metro area nearing ten million people, and it ranks third overall, after
New York City and
Los Angeles, respectively. == Use of term ==