Missouri has been at the U.S. center since 1980 but the geography is clearly shifting, with the West beginning to emerge as America’s new heartland.

America’s population center is edging away from the Midwest, pulled by Hispanic growth in the Southwest, according to census figures. The historic shift is changing the nation’s politics and even the traditional notion of the country’s heartland — long the symbol of mainstream American beliefs and culture.

Continue reading… “The West is Becoming America’s New ‘Heartland’”