 | This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (April 2020) |
West North Central | |
|---|---|
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| Composition | |
| Metropolitan areas | |
| Largest city | Kansas City, MO |
| Area | |
| • Total | 507,913 sq mi (1,315,490 km2) |
| Population (2020) | |
| • Total | 21,616,921 |
| • Density | 43/sq mi (16/km2) |
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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.
- ^ Statistical Abstract of the United States 1995 (PDF) (Report). U.S. Bureau of the Census. 1995. Retrieved April 9, 2020.