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. 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. 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 geographic center of the 48 contiguous states is near Lebanon, Kansas. It is projected for the mean center of population to leave the Midwest and enter the Western United States by the mid-21st century. In 2000 it had been northeast from there, in Phelps County, Missouri. Īccording to the United States Census Bureau, the mean center of population in the US in 2010 was in or around Texas County, Missouri.

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. 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. There is no consensus regarding the geographical boundaries of America's heartland.

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