After each decennial census, the U.S. Census Bureau calculates the center of population for the U.S. and each state as the place where an imaginary, flat, weightless, rigid map would balance perfectly if all residents had identical weight. On April 1, 2000, Florida's population was determined to be 15,982,378, and from that number and the state's geographic configuration, Florida's centroid of population was computed at latitude 27.795850° North and longitude 81.634622° West. That computed center point falls on the east side of Lake Buffum, approximately 10.6 miles from this location.