If neither, then which state would take those labels?
I consistently see Missouri called the South by midwesterners, and the Midwest by southerners. It seems to be booted out by both regions at times, stuck in a semi cultural limbo – sort of like Oklahoma.
I know it’s tempting to split MO into 2 regions, but for the sake of the question, please avoid doing so.
Comments
No one wants them. I’ll be deep in the cold, cold ground before I recognize Missourah.
Yes.
Some states are just culturally blended. Missouri, Kentucky, Virginia, Texas, etc.
If you want to get into official government designations of regionality, that’s a different question.
I’m from Louisiana, and have never really thought of Missouri as a souther state. Not entirely sure why that is, just never realliy thought of it that way.
It’s both.
It has two distinct regions and cultures
I’ll say southern midwestern basically for the cities- St Louis and Kansas City are midwestern cities not southern cities
It’s tough to say for many, because during the civil war it was a state with slavery and supported many pro-confederate policies….but wasn’t actually part of the confederate states. I think that is where a lot of the discussion comes from.
It really depends on who you ask, but most people I have talked to from there say it “feels” not much different than the rest of the south, and even in St Louis or Kansas City, while not as “southern” feeling as Atlanta or Nashville, does not feel as cosmopolitan or hip as them these days either.
Kind of the worst of both worlds, as Missouri cities have not had the crazy growth as large southern cities either.
Midwest. I’m southern and got stationed in Missouri once when I was in the Army. It was surprising that everyone there seemed to consider themselves southern, but their taste in food said otherwise.
In my mind Missouri is much lower than it actually is, so a southern state that’s in the Midwest? I don’t know honestly
I would say it’s definitely the most Southern Midwestern state. It feels mostly familiar, just with little things that are different
I’m not from there but I consider it “quasi-southern” which is where I’d also put Kansas, Oklahoma, Maryland, Delaware, and West Virginia
We consider Kentucky, especially Louisville and northern KY, to be on the midwestern/southern border. I always considered Missouri midwestern.
Missouri is midwestern in my opinion. Not southern at all.
I don’t really think of Missouri as “southern” at all, so I would classify it as a midwestern state that happens to extend a little south. (as an Ohioan from close to the Lake, so more northern than all of Missouri… but still, not “southern” to me)
As a southerner, I have never considered MO southern, so I’d say the most Southern Midwestern state.
I was literally talking about this the other day though, I just learned that they consider themselves southern. I never would have guessed!
I grew up there and have lived in various parts of the state, mostly in the southern half. Inasmuch as it was mentioned at all, every Missourian I ever met considered themselves midwestern, even in the depths of the Ozarks. I’m not saying there aren’t valid historical/cultural reasons to associate the state with the South, but I still only really hear it considered a “southern” state online or irl by people who have never lived there.
Depends on where in the state you are.
I don’t think I’ve ever considered it southern so I definitely fall into the camp of southerners that say it’s midwestern. I’m sure it may share some things with the south but generally it doesn’t feel southern.
It’s southern along US-60.
If you think Missouri is regionally ambivalent, truly consider all the portions of the Keystone state Pennsylvania, and not just the downstate SEPA Philly area. It’s Northeast blue state, rust belt, Pocono mountains, Pennsyltucky and more.
Southern midwestern state. Lived in STL. Very much so Midwestern. But there’s definitely a lot of southern influence. Especially as a black person you can tell a lot of folks are 1-2 generations removed from the south. very different than southerners now but clearly very much so still influenced.
The bootheel essentially is southern culturally.
I was about to make the Oklahoma comparison from your title, but you did it already
I think OK is more southern than MO, but it’s regional within each state.
Southeastern Oklahoma is traditionally nicknamed the “Little Dixie,” were the last Confederates to surrender (Stand Watie/Fort Towson), and had a ton of migration from the Deep South after the Civil War.
Northeastern Oklahoma/Tulsa is more Midwestern, and OKC has a bit of western influence (more cowboy inflected).
I think of it as a Midwestern-Southern state, but that’s heavily influenced by college football with “Missouri” being in the SEC. If I look at a map, it sure looks pretty “Midwestern”, though.
It’s both I feel
Geographically, I consider it part of the midwest still (but the lower midwest like other states in Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio), but culturally, it is split depending on which part of the state you’re in
Missouri is the most southern midwestern state.
Kentucky is the most midwestern southern state.
Midwest only is all I ever thought
Midwestern-Southern state. I say it’s more of a Midwestern state geographically. so Midwest is dominant. It has Menards and Culver’s for crying out loud!
I live in Missouri, but you’ll only currently find authentic Southern culture down by the Bootheel, and historically in some parts along the Missouri River in the central part of the state. You’ll definitely find Appalachian culture in the Ozarks, which is its own thing culturally and historically, distinct from the South, and then Midwestern country culture is widespread. The presence of the Ozark mountains does have a big effect: they aren’t particularly high but they do restrict transportation. Folks from the coasts will often conflate these cultures.
St. Louis is arguably the southernmost and westernmost Northern city, and it does have a lot of admiration of Chicago, but also New Orleans (which is not a Southern city, culturally). Kansas City is arguable the easternmost Western city, which has or had a lot of cowboy culture.
Regarding Oklahoma, it’s best considering as a part of the Great Plains and not Midwest.
As a Missourian, the answer to your question is Yes.
As an Iowans, you can tell almost immediately that you’ve entered a different region once you cross the border. Roads are worse (the weather is different from the southern most part to the northern most part, so they don’t have to worry about snow removal and the damage done to roads like most other Midwest states), there are firework stores and dispensaries, and the political ads and billboards are way more conservative and feature more guns. That last point is particularly crazy considering Iowa’s politics lately. It just feels so much different than driving to any other adjacent state that it’s hard to say it’s squarely in the same region.
Kansas City is the easternmost city of the West. St Louis is the westernmost city of the East.
Everything else below I-70 is the South.
Everything else above I-70 is Midwest.
North of I-70 and the Missouri River is Midwest, South of this demarcation is the Ozarks and culturally similar to southern states
I’ve only been to southern Missouri and it felt like the South. But I still consider it a midwestern state
Yeah south Missouri is the south. The northern part don’t Missouri is the Midwest. It’s a two region state.
Missouri is part of the Midwest.
For a lot of more northern Midwesterners, if a state allowed slaves, it’s part of the South. Missouri didn’t secede from the Union during the Civil War, but it was a slave state. It’s the only state commonly grouped in the Midwest that was a slave state.
But that common list of Midwestern states is getting pretty murky. Kentucky (also a former slave state) today has a lot more economic ties and similarities to Ohio and Michigan due to car manufacturing. Nebraska and the Dakotas have as much in common with the West as they do with the Midwest. So things are shifting culturally and economically.
Missouri becomes the odd state out because it’s a little South and a little Midwest and a little West in ways that no other state is. Its two biggest/most important cities (St Louis, Kansas City) are multi-state metro areas spilling into Illinois (solidly Midwest) and Kansas (solidly West).
Yes. And I believe it’s pronounced “misery”
People act like states have to be one thing entirely and not a mix of several. It happens with Florida and Texas when people say they’re their own thing—that’s true, but Miami and the Panhandle are nothing alike.
For Missouri I seriously doubt that southern culture just ends at the Arkansas Kentucky and Tennessee borders. The bootheel is regarded as southern and so is the region known as little Dixie in the north of the state. I’d say it’s midwestern on the whole, but there are people there who call themselves southerners in good enough numbers for it to be the most southern midwestern state.
Maybe “historically southern” in the way that Delaware was historically southern but not considered southern anymore
They are in the South Eastern Conference so by law they are in the south. But it’s such a big state. The boot heel is very different than KC and STL
I was just thinking about this earlier today based on another question. As somebody who lives in Ohio, I would consider Missouri more Midwestern than Southern. But, I don’t consider the Great plains area (Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri) as part of the Midwest either.
Yes, both
Technically, Missouri is a midwestern state.
However, as a child of the South (Eastern Kentucky) who has a good friend from Missouri, the crossovers are undeniable.
Yes, definitely.
The SEC’s conference expansion and its consequences:
I’m from Kentucky, which I consider to be the most Midwestern-esque Southern state. I’d definitely consider Missouri to be Midwestern with major Southern influence.
It’s both. The southern part of Missouri is undoubtedly the south. While the northern half is clearly the Midwest. The Ozarks are one of the places that the term hillbilly originated from if I remember correctly.
St. Louis, Kansas City, and to an extent, Jefferson City are all Midwestern, but the Ozarks region & Bootheel are definitely Southern.
Depends on where in Missouri. The state falls along a few lines.
St. Louis is Midwest/Rust Belt
Kansas City is Midwest/Plains
Bootheel is Deep South
Joplin is Southern
Missouri is where the midwest ends and the south begins, its neither and both at the same time.
Maybe more accurately, I tend to think of Missouri as the eastern-most Western state and the western-most Eastern state. There’s really a big difference between KC and STL.
St. Louis feels like a very eastern city, just up the river from Memphis, close to Louisville, and it’s large French influence gives off New Orleans vibes. Blues and soul food.
And then Kansas City feels like the entrance to the frontier. Cattle drives, trains, and steamboats. T-bone steaks, barbeque, and westward expansion.
Most Midwestern Southern state.
Once you get to the southern counties, it’s pretty damned southern. Further south geographically than a lot of “southern” states. The SE corner is swamps, alligators, cotton and rice. The south central and southwest climbs further into the hills. The Beverly Hillbillies were from the Branson area. The Ozarks proper, NOT the Lake of the Ozarks region which is too far north to be southern or the Ozarks
Overall Midwest but Missouri is interesting in the same way the Texas and Pennsylvania are, being essentially the junction of 3 us cultural regions. Good chunks of the state, especially anything south of I-44 feel very Southern, KC and the Northwest part of the state feel very Great Plains midwest, and St Louis and several towns in the northeast part feel very Great Lakes/ Rust Belt midwest
Midwestern state with some culturally southern regions in it.
Missouri was the gateway to the West (mid-west, one might say) and attracted lots of pioneers and immigrants. For a while, it was an important hub of commerce and industry.
I firmly put it in the Midwestern camp, but just like parts of Pennsylvania are more like West Virginia and parts of Florida are more like Cuba, it’s not uniform.
Missouri was a slave state, therefore the most midwestern-southern state.
Growing up I thought MO was Midwest. And never understood how those northern states were included. How could you you mid and west if you you’re in the northern party of the country?
Turns out I was wrong.
I don’t know the answer.
The north half looks like Iowa and Nebraska.
The bottom half looks like Arkansas.
Culturally, I don’t think we have anything in common with the states usually considered Midwest. I don’t think we have much in common with the south either.
I like to think of it as a Midwestern state cosplaying as a Southern state. They seem more heavy handed about the way they embrace “Southern values” than actual Southern states.
Growing up in the South, even though Missouri and St. Louis were closeish to me, I spent a lot more time in Georgia, Arkansas, Alabama, and Mississippi. I felt much more connected to them than Missouri, because they were a part of the South.
It’s a weird in-between. As someone from CA who liked HS history, I consider it the south because of the Missouri Compromise of 1820, making it a slave state.
But when I think of a city like Kansas City, it’s more Midwest to me.
Th I44 line or the river are two traditional lines of
Division between the two, but it has elements of both all through it. St Louis literally feels like a cross between New Orleans and Cincinnati , the biscuit line is very hazy all through the state, and I knew people who said both ope and y’all. You can see why southerners fell it’s midwestern, and midwesterners feel it’s southern.
Missouri is not Midwest. It was a border state like Kentucky and Maryland, so Southern and a slave state but not Confederate.
I do not consider Missouri to be either Midwestern or Southern. I would just loosely call it Middle America instead.
I’d say it’s the most southern Midwestern state, as long as you are already including Oklahoma as part of the south. I think a big reason I love Missouri so much is because it’s such a great mixture of the two, but ultimately it’s a Midwestern state
I consider it part of the Midwest, but like Ohio, in some areas it displays some Southern influences. That is neither good nor bad, but is just so.
Southern Midwestern. It’s a Midwest state until you get to the boot hill then it gets southern.
Growing up in the south, it would never occur to me to include Missouri in the south. Fully midwestern to me 🤷🏻♀️
I live in the Deep South and have family members that live in Missouri. I can tell you that most of the people I know in the Deep South do not consider Missouri a southern state, and most of the people I encounter in Missouri do not seem to consider themselves Southern either.
I suspect that most Americans don’t really think about Missouri at all.
Native born Midwesterner here. The “real” Midwest is the original Northwest Territory established after the Revolution. Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. We then let Iowa in after they joined the BIG 10. Kansas City and St Louis are honorary Midwestern Cities, but they are technically outside the circle of trust.
Missouri was a slave state and they “talk funny” the farther south you go in the state. Definitely a southern state
I see it as mostly Midwest here in KC.
I’m originally from the south (Louisiana), but as you head south around Joplin/Branson it starts feeling more southern to me.
To me Missouri is the Midwest. I tend to define the south based on those that fought a war against the United States. My paternal grandparents were anti-slavery Missourians, so while I know many Missourians joined the confederate army, I think of Missouri as Midwest. I suppose those in the counties that were pro slavery probably feel south so I can get behind the concept of the most southern midwestern state.
I consider it primarily Midwestern
Tennessee is by far the most midwestern southern state and the most southern midwestern state. The kicker is that they consider themselves neither the south nor the Midwest. They’re just Tennessee.
Its both. If you’re down in the bootheel its definitely the South. If you’re in St Louis area it KC area its the Midwest.
Being solidly from the Midwest myself, Missouri is southern to me.
As someone from the East, I don’t think of it as either. I lump it in with the plains states like Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas etc.
Idk but they have gooey butter cake so they’re cool
It’s technically “midwestern” but it was a slave and state and gets pretty southern culture wise when you move further south. KC and St Louis are very much a midwestern culture though.
They are more Southern than Midwestern.
Based on its history I’d call it a midwestern southern state not vice versa
I consider Missouri the most southern Midwestern state
Missouri is a midwestern state. The rural part of their state wants to be southern. The two major cities are both about as midwestern as it gets.
I see it as a 100% Midwest state.
That and Indiana should be considered the “Deep South”
Enjoy those low wages, ‘Ya’ll”
Most southern midwest. Im from illinois just near St Louis, its a midwest vibe that happens to be most southern.
It’s a border state, as are Tennessee, Kentucky, Maryland, and Delaware. I wouldn’t call any of them Southern, because none of them fought on the side of the South during the Civil War, but they don’t fall into other categories.
Yes, next question.
I don’t ever actually think about Missouri.
Buckle of the Bible Belt.
The same as Indiana.
Yes
Northern Mo is a Southern Midwest state and Southern Mo is a Midwest South state. The line is drawn between St Louis and Kansas City.
Lifelong Southerner here and I’ve never heard anyone include MO in the South.
I consider it part of the Midwest, it wasn’t Confederate.
If if was a slave state- its south
As someone from the northeast, I’ve always thought of Missouri as a southern state.
It’s part of the Midwest. It’s the southern part of the Midwest, just like Wisconsin is the northern part, but I’m not sure that’s a useful distinction to make or worry about. I guess if you are from some of the friendlier parts of the Midwest, it might be a little weird the first time you go to Missouri since it’s a super red state, but overall it mostly still feels like the Midwest.
In my experience it’s the most Midwestern Southern state. My mom’s side of the family is from MO and they definitely consider themselves Southern. Even the ones that live at the very top of the state.
It’s tough for me to say, and maybe this should inspire a copycat post. Michigan, you see, is often lumped into the midwest, and culturally we’re really a Yankee-descended Great Lakes state. We’re really more culturally aligned with Ontario than with the other midwest states.
Missouri broadly is a midwestern state that has a certain part that is culturally more similar to the south
If you figure it out please let us know, this is a 204 year old argument at this point.
I’ve always seen it as Midwestern.
I’ve lived in St. Louis for 24 years and I moved here from Iowa, which is the most indisputably Midwestern state in the country. St. Louis is more like Iowa than the South. And most of the places I’ve been in Missouri are, too. That said, I often quip that “Mizzurah” begins once you get south of St. Louis. Especially down in the bootheel.
It is both.
Drive through missouri and stop at a gas station every 30mins. You can literally hear the accent and word choices change little by little.
This is the most Missouri question I have ever seen.
I live on the east coast.
I never think about Missouri.
Missouri became a southern state when they went from the Big 12 to the SEC.
Besides, St. Louis and Kansas City are both known for BBQ and jazz… very southern things.
It’s the most Southern of the Midwestern states.
The most Midwestern of the Southern states would probably be Kentucky or Oklahoma.
You’ve already put more thought into Missouri than any American outside of Missouri has.
I think Ohio wins for most southern midwestern state but I like the idea of you being the most midwestern southern state. Don’t know why it makes sense but my heart says it rings true. While I am at it, Michigan is the most western midwestern state. Illinois the most eastern midwestern state and Minnesota the most midwestern midwestern state. But Ontario gave it a run
I moved from Pennsylvania to California, and out here what I used to call the Midwest is still called east. Based on that, I would say it’s probably relative to where the person speaking is domiciled combined with when the area became part of the US and/when and how the state was admitted to the Union.
I personally would not call them south, because I’m an east coaster, but my MIL, who was born there and moved to California as an adult, did call it the south.
I call Pennsylvania the north (or “nawth” if I’m taking the side of my Mama’s Georgia relatives lol), but technically it’s considered a Mid-Atlantic state.
I am from MO. StL metro area and currently live there. I have travelled significantly inside the US. We are trying to get the kids to all 48 contiguous states before they move out of our house. We have done EVERY southern state from coast to coast. We also have property in MI, so we spend a lot of time up north.
Being from St Louis, I would say we are definitely NOT southern, 100% midwestern. However if I grew up in Springfield or Poplar Bluff I would tell you they “lean” southern. I agree with the person that said Indiana feels the most like MO of any other state.
Most southern Midwestern state for sure. Anyone who says otherwise is not well traveled. I grew up in SW Missouri, and it primarily Midwestern. The only part that is primarily southern is the Bootheel up to about Poplar Bluff. The Ozarks are the main divider stretching from low southwest Missouri up to Sullivan (very roughly).
I’m from MO and consider it an amalgamation of North/South/East/West. Southern MO is very much the south, while northern MO has a northern state feel. KCMO is very distinctly different than St Louis, in attitude and feels.
Missouri is the most Southern Midwestern state. Kentucky is the most Midwestern Southern state. No, I will not elaborate.
Miz uhr ee is Midwest. Miz oo ruh is South.
Midwestern southern and Oklahoma is the southern midwestern
Not from there, but the mason Dixon line literally goes through St Louis. My wife and I took our honeymoon there
You can, in the city, get a coffee at a 711 and hear a Midwest accent, then cross the highway (on the line) and they have a strong drawl
For what it’s worth, my father’s small hometown in southern Missouri always seemed to be more like rural Indiana or Illinois than my mom’s small hometown in Mississippi. For that reason I tend to see Missouri as a Midwestern state first… not that there’s a vast difference between rural Indiana and rural Mississippi either
Midwestern to me
I think we gotta stop acting like cultural regions are defined by state borders
My family is from Missouri, but I am from Texas. It does not “feel” southern there at all. The food is definitely not southern, the accents definitely aren’t southern, and the people seem midwestern. So I would go with it is the southern most Midwestern state.
The boot heel is southern.
2003 was the only time I visited Missouri, but it felt more Midwestern than anything else; even down in the part next to Arkansas (Branson area)
I would say both. My accent and vocabulary are definitely Mid-West. Cousins’ accents/vocab are more Southern. Really depends on location
Originally from Michigan, have lived in Louisiana for over 16 years, and they are not the Midwest at all and Ill die on that hill.
I think it’s the most Southern Midwest state. The most Midwest Southern state has to be either Oklahoma or Kentucky.
Even Illinois is split culturally. The southern half of the state is way more southern than the top half culturally. And the last 100 miles of the state has a southern accent.
Midwest ends with ill.
It’s both.
Everything outside KC (Denver like) and StL (Chicago like) is vaguely Southern. Go as far north as Mexico. MO. to experience the Little Dixie area. Missouri was a slave state, a star on the Confederate Battle flag, and a cotton producing state. There are Waffle Houses all over the state, and everyone outside the two largest cities says “y’all.” Visit Hayti and Caruthersville. You can find grits everywhere, and the accent outside the big cities is definitely HeeHaw. Most of the schools with a Black presence were very segregated and Saint Louis has consistently been labeled one of the most segregated cities in the US. Research why Springfield has so few Black folks. Look at the Missouri response to Kansas alone. I’d say Missouri has become much more Southern since I left as a young adult: Mizzou joined the SEC and the GQP has essentially turned it into Arkansas (where I have more family).
No one wants Missouri.
I lived all over Missouri in the eighties. Northern MO and Columbia felt very Midwest to me. The Ozarks were definitely South.
I’ve always considered it to be part of the south.
They’re something special. I love the billboards on 44. Uranus Fudge Factory. “The Best Fudge Comes from Uranus”. When I think of Missouri, I will always think of Uranus. 😂
Missouri’s lower 1/3 is hillbilly southern, which is different than redneck southern
Hillbilly southern also encompasses northwest Arkansas, kentucky, east Tennessee and western carolina
The top 2/3 of Missouri is the midwest