Why No One Wants To Live In The Center Of The Us

Bright Side

Ever wondered why the center of the U.S. isn't buzzing with city life? The lack of a bustling metropolis in the heartland isn't due to any mysterious reasons. Historically, coastal regions stole the limelight as trade hubs and cultural epicenters, leaving the center feeling a bit left out. Plus, the vastness of the Midwest didn't exactly scream "let's build a city here" in the early days. While the center has its charms, the allure of coastal cities, job opportunities, and cultural hotspots often steal the show. But hey, every region's got its own unique flavor, right? ️  Credit:  Canberra: Jason Tong - https://flic.kr/p/m4njek, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/..., https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...  CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... Thirteencolonies: Richard Zietz, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Th...  California Aqueduct: Ikluft, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...  CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... Louisiana: William Morris, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...  Great Plains: William L. Farr, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...   Animation is created by Bright Side.  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Music from TheSoul Sound: https://thesoul-sound.com/   Check our Bright Side podcast on Spotify and leave a positive review! https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD...   Subscribe to Bright Side: https://goo.gl/rQTJZz  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our Social Media: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brightside  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightside.... TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@brightside.of...   Stock materials (photos, footages and other): https://www.depositphotos.com https://www.shutterstock.com https://www.eastnews.ru ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me

Transcript

00:00 According to the United Nations, India became the most populous country in the world in

00:06 2023.

00:08 Can you guess where the United States of America stands in that rating?

00:11 It's number 3.

00:13 And America is the 4th largest country in terms of size.

00:17 It takes up some 6% of Earth's landmass.

00:21 Plenty of space for 335 million people who live there, right?

00:26 No need to squeeze them into one region.

00:28 Well, not quite.

00:30 The population of the US is distributed pretty unevenly.

00:34 Let's draw a line right through the middle of the country.

00:38 It'll run from North Dakota in the north to Texas in the south.

00:43 Once you input census data and do some math, astounding figures appear.

00:47 80% of the US population lives east of the imaginary line.

00:52 The remaining 20% live to the west.

00:55 That's just 1 in 5 Americans!

00:59 We're talking about large metropolitan areas such as Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco.

01:06 You don't believe me?

01:07 Just look at a satellite map of the US at night.

01:10 The right part is shining pretty bright, right?

01:13 But why?

01:14 Why is there such a huge imbalance in population?

01:19 Simply put, history and geography.

01:21 The East Coast is the place where the US became independent in 1776.

01:28 These are the original 13 colonies.

01:31 Soon enough, settlers started spreading westward.

01:34 One important milestone was the Louisiana Purchase.

01:36 Today, this region is mostly what we call the Midwest.

01:40 The area aligns nicely with the Mississippi watershed.

01:44 Yep, this means plenty of fertile soil ideal for agriculture.

01:49 But does this automatically mean a spike in population?

01:54 The demographics of the US reveal that a majority of its citizens live either on the east or

01:59 the west coast.

02:01 This leaves a large patch of land in the middle of the country virtually empty.

02:06 People know it as America's underpopulated belt.

02:09 The area stretches from the Canadian border in the north to Mexico in the south.

02:15 The total surface area of this strip of land is 350,000 square miles.

02:20 That's twice the size of California.

02:23 One massive piece of land.

02:25 In fact, this narrow strip accounts for 12% of the contiguous United States.

02:30 That's the US without Alaska and Hawaii.

02:33 The belt runs north to south through 7 states.

02:37 But its population makes up only 1% of the total number of people living in the United

02:42 States.

02:43 This doesn't mean that the area is completely empty.

02:46 It's still home to just over 3 million people.

02:49 That's roughly the population of the island country of Jamaica.

02:53 But there is room here for many more residents.

02:56 Let's take the example of Nigeria.

02:59 Its total land area is slightly bigger than the sparsely inhabited belt in America.

03:05 But Nigeria's population is a huge 206 million people.

03:10 This makes it the 7th most populated country on the planet.

03:14 Impressive, right?

03:16 But why isn't the American Midwest living up to its potential?

03:21 Time for one last history lesson.

03:22 I've already mentioned how the United States expanded from the East Coast to the West Coast.

03:27 This doesn't mean that the West was lagging too far behind.

03:31 Take for example the cities of San Francisco and Los Angeles.

03:34 They were incorporated in 1850.

03:36 That's just 13 years after Chicago.

03:40 The following year, Portland, Oregon became incorporated.

03:43 You get the picture.

03:45 And then, in 1869, the United States completed building its first transcontinental railroad.

03:51 In terms of transport, the country was unified.

03:55 There is no historical reason strong enough to explain why so few people live in the center

03:59 of the country.

04:02 So now it's time for some interesting geography.

04:05 If you look at the physical map of the United States, you'll notice that this belt lies

04:10 in the Great Plains.

04:11 As the name suggests, the area is flat, which should be ideal for large settlements.

04:16 Well, not really.

04:19 East of this region, there is a huge patch of the color brown.

04:22 It's covered by mountains.

04:24 But not just any mountains.

04:26 These are the Rockies.

04:27 The range is around 76 million years old.

04:30 It has several peaks over 14,000 ft.

04:34 And most of the Rockies are national parks, a vast nature reserve.

04:38 But most importantly, the range plays a vital role in the region's climate.

04:44 Ever heard of the rain shadow effect?

04:46 Let me explain.

04:48 Wet weather systems form over the Pacific Ocean.

04:51 Then they travel east, where they meet the Rockies.

04:53 Now the air has to go up over the mountains.

04:56 This is where it cools down and condenses.

04:59 The final result?

05:00 A lot of rain and snow for the people living on or west of the range.

05:06 With just a few drops east of it.

05:09 When air from the Pacific finally reaches the Great Plains, it doesn't contain much

05:13 moisture anymore.

05:15 In fact, the weather system starts taking up moisture from the surrounding landscape.

05:20 This creates an arid climate east of the Rocky Mountains.

05:23 That's the exact location of the belt where so few Americans live.

05:28 It's one of the driest parts of the country.

05:30 So when settlers came in the 19th century, they were like, "Nah, I'll just continue

05:35 west."

05:36 Plus, there was the gold rush in California they were heading for.

05:40 The climate in this part of the plains isn't great for agriculture, and huge fluctuations

05:45 in air temperature don't help either.

05:48 In a single day, temperatures can drop from 70 to 30 degrees Fahrenheit.

05:53 These sudden changes in outside temperature are harmful to human health.

05:56 It's like stepping inside an air-conditioned room on a sizzling summer day.

06:01 Not a pleasant feeling.

06:03 Southern California has a similarly dry climate.

06:05 Yet, close to 40 million people live there.

06:09 This makes California the most populous US state.

06:11 Their secret?

06:13 A vast network of irrigation canals and aqueducts, plus a share of water from the Colorado River.

06:20 Summers in the Great Plains get very hot, while winters are extremely cold.

06:25 The reason behind these wild weather patterns are polar winds.

06:29 They get a piggyback ride along the ridges of the Rockies and then rapidly descend into

06:34 the plains.

06:36 A winter day in Wyoming, for example, can start pleasantly warm.

06:40 But later in the afternoon, the temperature can easily drop below zero.

06:45 You just wouldn't know how to dress, and you probably wouldn't want to relocate here.

06:50 That's what 99% of Americans think too.

06:54 Humans like to feel comfortable, so we choose to live in temperate climate zones.

06:59 Those that are either too cold or too hot don't have a large population.

07:04 Just look at the driest inhabited continent.

07:07 You've guessed it correctly – it's Australia.

07:10 Nearly 70% of the country is either arid or semi-arid.

07:13 That's a subtle way of saying that it's a desert.

07:18 That's why Australians are huddled in coastal areas.

07:21 90% of them live in big cities, such as Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth.

07:28 The only exception is the capital, Canberra.

07:30 They build it inland close to a water source.

07:33 But Australia's interior is sparsely populated.

07:37 Just like in the States.

07:38 There is only one major town in an area the size of 12 Lake Michigans.

07:43 A huge shout-out to the residents of Alice Springs – they truly live in an oasis!

07:49 And what about places with a temperate climate, like Europe?

07:53 The population is evenly distributed here, right?

07:56 Well, yes and no, depending on the country.

08:00 In Germany, 77% of people live in urban areas.

08:04 They have plenty of major cities to choose from.

08:06 Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, and Köln all have over a million residents.

08:12 But let's look at neighboring France.

08:14 How many cities with a population over a million can you name?

08:18 Okay, Paris, definitely.

08:21 It has over 12 million residents in the metropolitan area.

08:25 But now comes the staggering fact.

08:28 The next two cities on the list have a population of barely 2 million, respectively.

08:34 Can you notice the huge imbalance?

08:36 This is the case in most large European countries.

08:40 In Greece, for example, 35% of the population lives in the capital, Athens.

08:45 So the largely underpopulated center of the United States is not a unique example.

08:52 America is the land of opportunities, but chances of finding a better life are greater

08:57 in large cities.

08:58 The country's top 100 metropolitan areas account for at least three-quarters of the

09:04 nation's GDP, and most of them are located on the East and the West Coast.

09:09 There are no cities with over a million residents in America's underpopulated belt.

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