Hi, I’m from South Carolina. I’ve always grown up hearing about our 4 most distinct region, the Lowcountry, Peedee, The Sandhills, Piedmont. I did some digging, not quite successful in finding other state regions with notable names. Does your state have it’s own regions, & are they named, or just central south etc? Thanks!
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Downeast, Mid Coast, The County, Western Mountains, Central Maine
Of course. State lines are arbitrary, and most US states are the size of mid-size European countries.
Among the states I know well or pretty well: Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Michigan certainly have distinct regions. Even Connecticut.
Can I interest you in Texas and the many ways to break it into regions?
Wisconsin has distinct regions, including the Northwoods, the Driftless Area, the Kettle Morraine, etc.
NJ has 4 distinct regions; North, Central, South, and Shore. We just can’t agree on where the borders are.
North Florida, Panhandle, central Florida, SWFl, South Florida
Yes. Colorado here. The plains, the front range, the mountains (or mountain towns), and the western slope.
There may be other regions that have a specific flavor, but others will have to chime in. These are the major 4
Edit: one more clear cut region is the 4-corners area
Any state that is large and/or geographically diverse definitely has them. New York certainly does.
Tennessee’s grand divisions may be the best example
Wasatch Front and Not-Wasatch Front.
South Florida, central Florida, north Florida and anything else is LA (lower Alabama)
The exact lines vary but in MD we seem to all agree we have: Western MD (the panhandle), DC suburbs, Central MD/95 Corridor/Baltimore Region, Southern MD, and Eastern Shore
If you are from Chicago then it is “Chicago Land” and “down state.” If you are from anywhere else it’s “Chicago Land” and places like “Little Egypt,” “Forgottonia,” and “The Illinois Valley.”
NorCal, SoCal, Bay Area, Central California, and Inland
Washington State is divided between the wet/West/Democratic side and the Dry/East/Republican side…
Wet and dry refer to weather not booze……
Massachusetts –
The Cape, the islands, Greater Boston, North shore, Central Mass, 413.
Weirdly, you could divide these much smaller, too.
West Michigan, Mid Michigan, Metro Detroit, The Thumb, Up North, U.P.
Even tiny Rhode Island has mini regions
according to NYC, there’s NYC and upstate ny. Eveything is upstate when you’re the most southern part of ny lol. /j
Yes. Minnesota has the Driftless Region or “Bluff Country” of SE Minnesota, the Twin Cities metro, the Arrowhead (aka the North Shore), the Lakes Region, the Red River Valley in NW Minnesota, the Prairies in SW Minnesota, and the St. Croix River Valley east of the twin cities. I have seen other descriptions, but these 7 seem like the most common.
Kentucky has 5 regions: the Eastern Kentucky Coal Fields (Cumberland Plateau), the Knobs, the Bluegrass Region, the Pennyroyal (or Pennyrile), and the Jackson Purchase.
Every state is like this unless you’re in rhode island i guess lol
We have 3 here in Washington Coastal, Western and Eastern
If you’re from NYC there’s the city and the rest is upstate. If you’re from anywhere else in the state upstate is Albany area, there’s Central and Western the north country, thousand Islands, finger lakes, Adirondacks
Once you get down into the southern third of Indiana, you enter what is sometimes called Kentuckiana.
Nevada has Vegas (Clark County), the Truckee Meadows (Reno and the surrounding areas including Tahoe) and… well, the rest is pretty much just BLM land.
Big Bend, El Paso, Permian Basin, Llano Estacado, Hill Country, Blackland Prairie, North Texas, Northeast Texas, East Texas, Piney Woods, Southeast Texas, Coastal Plains, Rio Grande Valley. And I’m likely undercounting regions.
Most states, yeah. Oregon has: Portland area, Eastern Oregon, the Valley, Southern Oregon, and Central Oregon
Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Pennsyltucky
We have East River, West River, the Hills, and Sioux Falls (yes the city is on its own)
North Georgia mountains, Piedmont, Golden isles, South Ga farmland
Not necessarily. California is effectively divided into several regions each of which is one of the largest economies in the United States, I believe three of our metros have larger economies that half the US states and we’re responsible for an outsize proportion of US GDP, innovation, federal tax revenues and competitive advantage.
So, regions yes but not mini.
Yep.
Upstate, Western, finger lakes, Adirondack, southern tier, NYC…
Eastern PA and Western PA are most common, but you can sub-divide further (Philly area, Poconos, Lehigh Valley, Amish Country, and more the further west you go; I’m in eastern PA so western PA to me is Pittsburgh, Erie, and everything else).
The cultural divide is significant – Eastern PA is firmly Northeastern/Mid-Atlantic in culture and is on the Boston – to – DC corridor; western PA is very culturally midwestern and more similar to Ohio.
Yes.
Illinois is Chicago (includes all surrounding suburban areas), northwest Illinois, central Illinois, southern Illinois. Does that count?
NOVA, the mountains, Hampton Roads area, central Virginia, Northern Neck
Outsiders generally define my state as Philly, Pittsburgh, and ‘Pennsyltucky’ in between.
West Texas, Trans-Pecos, Panhandle, Hill Country, Piney Woods, Rio Grande Valley, North Texas, Central Texas, Southeast Texas, the list goes on and on. Many overlap.
New York is not just the city: the five boroughs, western New York (Buffalo, Niagara Falls, etc.), the southern tier (bordering Pennsylvania), the north country up near Canada, Watertown and Fort Drum
The driftless region, the North Shore, the lakes, the Red River Valley are some notable ones. Other parts of the state are less familiar to me, but I’m sure there’s a few I missed.
East Texas (subdivided into NE Texas and SE Texas as determined by the location claiming East Texas, also call Piney Woods and Oil Country), North Texas, Panhanle, West Texas, Heart of Texas, Central Texas, Hill Country, South Texas, the Valley and the Big Bend. There are further subdivisions and things like the South Colorado River Plaine, the Edwards Plateau
Yeah, Texas has a few
Philly, Pittsburgh, & Pennsyltucky
Geographic? Cultural? Climate? Food, tourism, demographic, etc? Some combination?
edit: yes, most states have distinct regions though not all are in the larger zeitgeist
New Hampshire has Southern NH/Merrimack Valley, the Lakes Region, the Monadnock region, the Dartmouth/Lake Sunapee region, the Seacoast, the White Mountains, and the Great North Woods (aka “north of the notches”). Several of these have further subdivisions – for example, the White Mountains can be split up to differentiate the Franconia Notch and Crawford Notch areas.
You mean like counties?
We have three: Appalachian Mountains (Garrett, Allegheny and a sliver of Frederick counties), Piedmont Plateau (from Frederick county almost to the Chesapeake Bay, probably same Piedmont as yours if I had to guess) and the Atlantic Coastal Plain.
YES – Texas has 5 or maybe even more
North Alabama, central Alabama and LA (Lower Alabama).
PA has the Poconos, but nothing else comes to mind beyond metro areas (Philly, Pittsburgh, Scranton, Harrisburg, Penn State, Erie, etc.), counties, towns or compass directions (NSEW, NE, NW, SE, SW). There are of course geological and ecological regions, but those aren’t common.
Yes, every state I’ve been to has. Pennsylvania even has big signs on their interstate roads.
Illinois basically has Chicagoland and everything else
East, Central, and West Tennessee are not only cultural divisions, they are legal Grand Divisions recognized by the state constitution. The three stars on our flag are for each Grand Division.