Heartland (United States)

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.

[4][5] 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.

[6] According to the United States Census Bureau, the mean center of population in the US in 2010 was in or around Texas 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 British geographer Halford Mackinder coined the word in 1904 to refer to the heart of the Eurasian land mass: a strategic center of industry, natural resources and power.