40.3596° N, 82.2875° W
SPRINGFIELD
Most Famous People Born in Springfield, United States
- Notable people
- 936
- Peak decade
- 1950s
- Median birth year
- 1933
- Most distinctive
- Baseball 9.5×
There are several Springfields in this dataset and they blur together statistically, which is the point - the 9.5× Baseball over-index is small-town America's pre-television obsession crystallized, the era when every Midwestern Springfield fielded a semi-pro team and a few of those kids made the Cardinals or Reds. The 2.6× Lawyer ratio is the Lincoln-era Springfield, IL signal still echoing through the data.
One face per decade — the most globally famous figure born in Springfield during each.
Notable Births by Decade
Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1950s with 90 notable births.
What Springfield Is Known For
Click any row to filter the list of people below.
Politician is Springfield's biggest profession — 13% of all notables (124).
Springfield over-indexes on baseball — 9.5× the global rate.
Springfield under-produces football — only 0.7× the global rate.
Profession Mix Over Time
Each band shows a profession family's share of Springfield's notable births by decade. Hover the chart for the breakdown at any decade.
- Sports
- Politics & Law
- Film & TV
- Music
- Writing
- Science
- Other
- Field: Novelist Clear ×
Daniel Woodrell
Born 1953
Dave Wolverton
Born 1957
Louise Closser Hale
1872 - 1933
Michael Z. Lewin
Born 1942
Pearl Cleage
Born 1948
Max Ehrlich (writer)
1909 - 1983
Robert Girardi
Born 1961
Laura Bynum
Born 1968
Jack Henderson (author)
Born 1958