Wright County is a county located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Missouri. As of the 2020 census, the population was 18,188. Its county seat is Hartville. The county was officially organized on January 29, 1841, and is named after Silas Wright, a former Congressman, U.S. Senator and Governor of New York. As of the 2020 United States Census, the U.S. Census Bureau recognized the mean center of the United States population to be within the county, near the community of Hartville.