From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Group of states in the Central North-western part of the US
Place
West North Central
|
---|
|
|
Composition
| |
---|
Metropolitan areas
| |
---|
Largest city
| Kansas City, MO
|
---|
|
? Total
| 507,913 sq mi (1,315,490 km
2
)
|
---|
|
? Total
| 21,616,921
|
---|
? Density
| 43/sq mi (16/km
2
)
|
---|
The
West North Central states
form one of the nine geographic subdivisions within the
United States
that are officially recognized by the
U.S. Census Bureau
.
Seven states compose the division:
Iowa
,
Kansas
,
Minnesota
,
Missouri
,
Nebraska
,
North Dakota
and
South Dakota
and it makes up the western half of the
United States Census Bureau
's larger
region
of the
Midwest
, the eastern half of which consists of the
East North Central states
of
Illinois
,
Indiana
,
Michigan
,
Ohio
and
Wisconsin
.
[1]
The
Mississippi River
marks the bulk of the boundary between these two divisions.
The West North Central states are regarded as constituting the core of the nation's "Farm Belt." Another name popularly applied to the division is the "Agricultural Heartland," or simply the "Heartland."
Since the early 1990s, the West North Central division has consistently had the lowest
unemployment
rate in the
United States
(especially in its many college towns), and has also been noted for its plentiful supply of affordable
housing
.
Demographics
[
edit
]
As of 2020, the West North Central states had a combined population of 21,616,921. This number is a 5.4% increase from 20,505,437 in 2010. The West North Central region covers 507,913 square miles (1,315,489 km
2
) of land, and has an average population density of 42.56 people per square mile.
States in the West North Central
State
|
2020 census
|
Land area
|
Iowa
|
3,190,369
|
56,272
|
Kansas
|
2,937,880
|
82,277
|
Minnesota
|
5,706,494
|
86,939
|
Missouri
|
6,154,913
|
69,709
|
Nebraska
|
1,961,504
|
77,354
|
North Dakota
|
779,094
|
70,700
|
South Dakota
|
886,667
|
77,116
|
Ten largest cities by population in the West North Central
|
City
|
2020 pop.
|
1
|
Kansas City, Missouri
|
508,090
|
2
|
Omaha, Nebraska
|
484,983
|
3
|
Minneapolis, Minnesota
|
434,341
|
4
|
Wichita, Kansas
|
390,780
|
5
|
St. Louis, Missouri
|
318,416
|
6
|
St. Paul, Minnesota
|
310,468
|
7
|
St. Louis, Missouri
|
292,601
|
8
|
Lincoln, Nebraska
|
292,201
|
9
|
Des Moines, Iowa
|
215,293
|
10
|
Overland Park, Kansas
|
197,783
|
Largest metropolitan areas (2020)
1
|
Twin Cities
(MN-WI)
|
3,685,561
|
2
|
St. Louis, MO
-IL
|
2,806,100
|
3
|
Kansas City, Missouri
-KS
|
2,172,902
|
4
|
Omaha, Nebraska
-IA
|
963,221
|
5
|
Des Moines, Iowa
|
721,326
|
6
|
Wichita, Kansas
|
649,230
|
7
|
Springfield, Missouri
|
473,702
|
8
|
Quad Cities
IA-IL (
Davenport
)
|
376,502
|
9
|
Lincoln, Nebraska
|
340,954
|
10
|
Duluth, MN
-WI
|
287,430
|
Politics
[
edit
]
Kansas
,
Nebraska
,
South Dakota
, and
North Dakota
have consistently voted for Republican presidential candidates since 1968.
Minnesota
has consistently voted for Democratic presidential candidates since 1976.
Missouri
has consistently voted for Republican presidential candidates since 2000.
Iowa
voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020, but previously voted for Democratic presidential candidates from 2012 to 1988, except in 2004 when it voted for
George W. Bush
.
- Bold
denotes election winner.
See also
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
- †
McCain and Trump won the overall state, but
Barack Obama
won
Nebraska's 2nd congressional district
in the
2008 election
, while
Joe Biden
won it in the
2020 election
.
References
[
edit
]