West North Central States

West North Central Region

Regional statistics
Composition	Iowa Kansas Minnesota Missouri Nebraska North Dakota South Dakota
Area  - Total	507,913 sq mi (774,847 km²)
Population - Total - Density	20,505,437 (2010 est.) 40/sq mi (15/km²)
Largest city	Kansas City (pop. 463,202)
Metropolitan Areas (within top 25)	Twin Cities, MN St. Louis, MO

The West North Central States form one of the nine geographic divisions 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. The Mississippi River marks the bulk of the boundary between these two divisions.

Where the East North Central States are seen as being synonymous (though not absolutely coterminous) with the Rust Belt by the vast majority of Americans, the West North Central States are regarded as constituting the core of the nation's "Farm Belt." Almost all of the territory contained within the West North Central division falls into what Joel Garreau called The Breadbasket in his 1981 book The Nine Nations of North America, and what James Patterson and Peter Kim labelled the Granary in their similarly themed work The Day America Told The Truth (the only exception being southern Missouri, placed in Dixie by Garreau and Old Dixie by Patterson and Kim). 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.

As of 2010, the West North Central States had a combined population of 20,505,437. This number is a 6.6% increase from 19,237,739 in 2000. The West North Central region covers 507,913 square miles (1,315,489 km²) of land, and has an average population density of 40.37 people per square mile.

States in the West North Central Region

State	2010 est.	Land area	Density
Iowa	3,046,355 (3rd)	56,272 (7th)	54.5 (3rd)
Kansas	2,853,118 (4th)	82,277 (2nd)	34.9 (4th)
Minnesota	5,303,925 (2nd)	87,014 (1st)	66.6 (2nd)
Missouri	5,988,927 (1st)	68,886 (6th)	87.1 (1st)
Nebraska	1,826,341 (5th)	76,872 (3rd)	23.8 (5th)
North Dakota	672,591 (7th)	68,976 (5th)	9.7 (7th)
South Dakota	814,180 (6th)	75,886 (4th)	10.7 (6th)

Largest Cities in the West North Central Region

	City	2010 Pop.
1	Kansas City, Missouri	459,787
2	Omaha, Nebraska	408,958
3	Minneapolis, Minnesota	382,578
4	Wichita, Kansas	382,368
5	St. Louis, Missouri	319,294
6	St. Paul, Minnesota	285,068
7	Lincoln, Nebraska	258,379
8	Des Moines, Iowa	203,433
9	Overland Park, Kansas	173,372
10	Springfield, Missouri	159,498
11	Sioux Falls, South Dakota	153,888
12	Kansas City, Kansas	145,786
13	Topeka, Kansas	127,473
14	Cedar Rapids, Iowa	126,326
15	Olathe, Kansas	125,872
16	Independence, Missouri	116,830
17	Columbia, Missouri	108,500
18	Rochester, Minnesota	106,769
19	Fargo, North Dakota	105,549
20	Davenport, Iowa	99,685
21	Lee's Summit, Missouri	91,364
22	Lawrence, Kansas	87,643
23	Duluth, Minnesota	86,265
24	Bloomington, Minnesota	82,893
25	Sioux City, Iowa	82,684
26	O'Fallon, Missouri	79,300
27	St. Joseph, Missouri	76,780
28	Brooklyn Park, Minnesota	75,781
29	Plymouth, Minnesota	70,576
30	Waterloo, Iowa	68,406

Largest Metropolitan Areas  (2010)

1	Twin Cities, MN (Minneapolis)	3,279,833
2	St. Louis, MO-IL	2,812,896
3	Kansas City, MO-KS	2,035,334
4	Omaha, NE-IA	865,350
5	Wichita, KS	623,061
6	Des Moines, IA	569,633
7	Springfield, MO	436,712
8	Quad Cities IA-IL (Davenport)	379,690
9	Lincoln, NE	302,157
10	Duluth, MN-WI	279,771