Thoughts on these American culture zones

[Mr. Illini]

So I spent a good amount of time today procrastinating making this map. I have seen that one with the different zones ("Yankeedom," "Midlands," etc.) many times and I really dislike it, so I wanted to make my own. These are culture zones that share a similar culture. Although there are differences among them, these are general zones (and even more specific than the one I have seen previously). Here's what I came up with. There are a couple of subtle humors in there, some more subtle than others.



What I struggled with the most is, ironically, my own backyard, the upper Midwest. Chicago really could be its own culture zone, as it does not fit well with Detroit or Cleveland nor Iowa. The same goes with MPLS/St. Paul. I put it with Southern Wisconsin and the Twin Cities, representing a culture zone ("Interior Coast") that separated itself in development in terms of not bingeing on manufacturing, which has led to lower affluence and development in other Midwestern cities as jobs have gone overseas. Parts of "The Union" and "Progress" overlap, but I wouldn't feel comfortable grouping the Quad Cities with the Upper Penninsula, so I separated them.

Let me know what you think.

[Mr. Illini]

All the Central Valley counties and Sierra counties of California are NOT hipster-ie in the slightest (sans the island of Alpine county). No way is a county with a place like Stockton hipstery.

Only Yolo is a a hipster Central Valley county in any way. The rest of them may as well be Texas or Applachia transported westward.

Yeah, I wanted to grab Mono and Alpine Counties out there for all of the nature-seekers moving east. Could have gone either way.

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Still strike me as largely southwestern culturally, as much of Texas does.

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As a resident of this area, I firmly disagree. While Gary is certainly in the Chicago metro area, it acts far more like Detroit or Cleveland than it does Chicago or Minneapolis.

[Mr. Illini]

Why is Travis County in the New York culture zone?

That was me humoring myself.

[Mr. Illini]

Several places in Colorado, particularly Boulder, Denver and Laramie counties, should be in "Hipsteria"

I was not prepared to do discontinuities, especially of that magnitude.

[Mr. Illini]

There's no real fair way to make discrete zones like this. It's not how life works. Reality is far more complicated and individual counties, especially in major metro areas, are incredibly diverse. Some sort of nod to ethnic differences needs to be implicit.

But there are different levels of generalization that are fair to make when attempting something like this. On can recognize regional differences while also recognizing similarities.