Mean Centers in Wisconsin

GEOG 370 - Quantitative Methods in Geography

The purpose of this activity was to explore the applications of mean centers. A geographic mean center is the center point of a feature, while a weighted mean center is the center point of a set of points.

The geographic mean center of Wisconsin at this projection is in Wood County. This is expected as it is located in the center of the state. The two weighted mean centers are in Green Lake County. They are located south of the geographic mean because large cities like Madison and Milwaukee are located in southern Wisconsin. Additionally, the 2015 population mean center has shifted slightly south-west from the 2000 mean center. More people are moving out of the northern part and into the southern part of the state.