The geographic center of the contiguous United States as located in a 1918 survey is located at 39°50′N 98°35′W, about 2.6 miles (4.2 km) northwest of the center of Lebanon, Kansas, approximately 12 miles (19 km) south of the Kansas–Nebraska border.

The Coast and Geodetic Survey found this location by balancing on a point a cardboard cutout shaped like the U.S.[9] This method was accurate to within 20 miles, but while the Geodetic Survey no longer endorses any location as the center of the U.S., the identification of Lebanon, Kansas, has remained.