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The Most Western State

Have you ever wondered which state is the most western in geographical positioning? Depending on how you define each state’s boundaries and how you measure its center, the answers can vary drastically.

If we use the mean longitude of each state, which I am defining as the meridian that is equidistant from the state’s easternmost and westernmost points, we can rank the states from easternmost to westernmost by mean longitude.

The States by Mean Longitude

  1. Maine (69.0ºW)
  2. Rhode Island (71.5ºW)
  3. New Hampshire (71.6ºW)
  4. Massachusetts (71.7ºW)
  5. Vermont (72.4ºW)
  6. Connecticut (72.8ºW)
  7. New Jersey (74.7ºW)
  8. Delaware (75.4ºW)
  9. New York (75.8ºW)
  10. Maryland (77.3ºW)
  11. Pennsylvania (77.6ºW)
  12. Virginia (79.5ºW)
  13. North Carolina (79.9ºW)
  14. West Virginia (80.2ºW)
  15. South Carolina (80.9ºW)
  16. Ohio (82.5ºW)
  17. Georgia (83.2ºW)
  18. Florida (83.8ºW)
  19. Kentucky (85.8ºW)
  20. Tennessee (86.0ºW)
  21. Michigan (86.4ºW)
  22. Indiana (86.4ºW)
  23. Alabama (86.7ºW)
  24. Illinois (89.5ºW)
  25. Wisconsin (89.8ºW)
  26. Mississippi (89.9ºW)
  27. Louisiana (91.4ºW)
  28. Arkansas (92.1ºW)
  29. Missouri (92.4ºW)
  30. Minnesota (93.4ºW)
  31. Iowa (93.4ºW)
  32. Kansas (98.3ºW)
  33. Oklahoma (98.7ºW)
  34. Nebraska (99.7ºW)
  35. Texas (100.1ºW)
  36. South Dakota (100.2ºW)
  37. North Dakota (100.3ºW)
  38. Colorado (105.6ºW)
  39. New Mexico (106.0ºW)
  40. Wyoming (107.6ºW)
  41. Montana (110.0ºW)
  42. Utah (111.5ºW)
  43. Arizona (111.9ºW)
  44. Idaho (114.1ºW)
  45. Nevada (117.0ºW)
  46. California (119.3ºW)
  47. Oregon (120.5ºW)
  48. Washington (120.8ºW)
  49. Alaska (158.8ºW)
  50. Hawaii (166.6ºW)
The states by their mean longitude; darker red indicates further east while lighter red indicates further west.
The states by their mean longitude; darker red indicates further east while lighter red indicates further west. Each state’s mean longitude is in black.

There we have it, it appears that, based on mean longitude, Hawaii is the most western state!

Hold on, why does the mean longitude of Hawaii appear to be west of the entirety of Hawaii? How can this be the middle of Hawaii if it is outside of the state? This is because the 8 largest islands in Hawaii that we usually recognized as the state of Hawaii are only the southeastern portion of the Hawaiian Islands. In reality, the state of Hawaii officially recognizes 137 islands, stretching a little further west than Midway Atoll; this makes Hawaii over 1,500 miles long. If you don’t count any Hawaiian Islands besides the 8 main islands, then Alaska is the furthest west state, but for this post, I am considering all 137 islands.

Now let’s rank the states from northernmost to southernmost.

The States by Mean Latitude

  1. Alaska (61.3ºN)
  2. North Dakota (47.5ºN)
  3. Washington (47.3ºN)
  4. Montana (46.7ºN)
  5. Minnesota (46.4ºN)
  6. Idaho (45.5ºN)
  7. Maine (45.2ºN)
  8. Michigan (45.0ºN)
  9. Wisconsin (44.8ºN)
  10. South Dakota (44.2ºN)
  11. Oregon (44.1ºN)
  12. New Hampshire (44.0ºN)
  13. Vermont (43.9ºN)
  14. Wyoming (43.0ºN)
  15. New York (42.8ºN)
  16. Massachusetts (42.1ºN)
  17. Iowa (41.9ºN)
  18. Rhode Island (41.6ºN)
  19. Connecticut (41.5ºN)
  20. Nebraska (41.5ºN)
  21. Pennsylvania (41.0ºN)
  22. Ohio (40.2ºN)
  23. New Jersey (40.1ºN)
  24. Indiana (39.8ºN)
  25. Illinois (39.7ºN)
  26. Utah (39.5ºN)
  27. Delaware (39.1ºN)
  28. Colorado (39.0ºN)
  29. West Virginia (38.9ºN)
  30. Maryland (38.8ºN)
  31. Nevada (38.5ºN)
  32. Kansas (38.5ºN)
  33. Missouri (38.3ºN)
  34. Virginia (38.0ºN)
  35. Kentucky (37.8ºN)
  36. California (37.3ºN)
  37. Tennessee (35.8ºN)
  38. Oklahoma (35.3ºN)
  39. North Carolina (35.2ºN)
  40. Arkansas (34.8ºN)
  41. Arizona (34.2ºN)
  42. New Mexico (34.2ºN)
  43. South Carolina (33.6ºN)
  44. Alabama (33.0ºN)
  45. Georgia (32.7ºN)
  46. Mississippi (32.6ºN)
  47. Texas (31.2ºN)
  48. Louisiana (31.0ºN)
  49. Florida (27.8ºN)
  50. Hawaii (23.7ºN)
The states by their mean latitude; darker red indicates further north while lighter red indicates further south.
The states by their mean latitude; darker red indicates further north while lighter red indicates further south. Each state’s mean latitude is in black.

What about the centers of the states? I can simply combine the mean latitude and longitude of each state, which will give me the center point of each state. You can define the center of each state by a few different rules, but these centers are exactly equidistant from the northernmost, southernmost, easternmost, and westernmost points of each state. I have also included the city name of the zip code in which the point lies, if one exists in the area.

The Center Points of the States

StateCityCoordinates
AlabamaJemison32.981ºN, 86.681ºW
AlaskaBethel Census Area61.298ºN, 158.776ºW
ArizonaBlack Canyon City34.168ºN, 111.931ºW
ArkansasNorth Little Rock34.752ºN, 92.132ºW
CaliforniaBig Creek37.272ºN, 119.273ºW
ColoradoLake George38.998ºN, 105.551ºW
ConnecticutMeriden41.516ºN, 72.758ºW
DelawareDover39.145ºN, 75.419ºW
FloridaGulf of Mexico, 60 miles from Indian Shores27.761ºN, 83.833ºW
GeorgiaDanville32.679ºN, 83.223ºW
HawaiiPacific Ocean, 23 miles from Tern Island23.683ºN, 166.591ºW
IdahoNorth Fork45.494ºN, 114.143ºW
IllinoisRochester39.740ºN, 89.505ºW
IndianaAvon39.766ºN, 86.442ºW
IowaMaxwell41.938ºN, 93.391ºW
KansasGeneseo38.498ºN, 98.320ºW
KentuckyLebanon Junction37.823ºN, 85.768ºW
LouisianaSaint Francisville30.974ºN, 91.430ºW
MaineMilo45.217ºN, 69.015ºW
MarylandFairfax, Virginia, 11 miles from Glen Echo, Maryland38.819ºN, 77.268ºW
MassachusettsDouglas42.063ºN, 71.719ºW
MichiganLake Michigan, 13 miles from Glen Arbor44.979ºN, 86.418ºW
MinnesotaAitkin46.442ºN, 93.366ºW
MississippiCanton32.585ºN, 89.877ºW
MissouriEugene38.305ºN, 92.437ºW
MontanaHarlowton46.680ºN, 110.044ºW
NebraskaMerna41.501ºN, 99.681ºW
NevadaManhattan38.502ºN, 117.023ºW
New HampshireLincoln44.001ºN, 71.580ºW
New JerseyDelaware River, 0.15 miles from Bordentown40.143ºN, 74.731ºW
New MexicoMountainair34.166ºN, 106.026ºW
New YorkGeorgetown42.756ºN, 75.809ºW
North CarolinaMount Gilead35.216ºN, 79.891ºW
North DakotaDenhoff47.468ºN, 100.302ºW
OhioUtica40.189ºN, 82.519ºW
OklahomaCorn35.309ºN, 98.717ºW
OregonPrineville44.146ºN, 120.538ºW
PennsylvaniaHoward40.995ºN, 77.604ºW
Rhode IslandNorth Kingstown41.583ºN, 71.507ºW
South CarolinaOrangeburg33.626ºN, 80.947ºW
South DakotaFort Pierre44.213ºN, 100.247ºW
TennesseeWoodbury35.831ºN, 85.979ºW
TexasEden31.169ºN, 100.077ºW
UtahMoroni39.500ºN, 111.548ºW
VermontTunbridge43.872ºN, 72.445ºW
VirginiaGoshen38.003ºN, 79.459ºW
WashingtonCle Elum47.273ºN, 120.844ºW
West VirginiaBuckhannon38.920ºN, 80.182ºW
WisconsinMosinee44.786ºN, 89.827ºW
WyomingShoshoni43.000ºN, 107.553ºW
The center points of the states are in red.

You may notice that, based on my definition of center, the center points of the states of Florida, Hawaii, Michigan, and New Jersey all land in water, however, the strangest center point is quite possibly Maryland’s, which lands in Virginia; this is because the Maryland-Virginia border follows the Potomac River, which curves just north of the point that is equidistant from Maryland’s extreme points, but because Maryland is located on the north side of the river and Virginia is on the south, the center point of Maryland is technically within Virginia’s domain.

Which center point is your favorite?

Onward American 🇺🇸

Source: Extreme Points of the States

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