For those wondering about the definition, my definition is simply using the term Great Lakes to avoid "Midwest" because these states are distinctly culturally different than states like Kansas or North Dakota, but also New York and Pennsylvania, which are northeastern states. Most of Iowa's population centers are in the cultural zone that is more similar to Illinois and Wisconsin than Nebraska.
As someone born in Chicago, with family in IA, and as someone who grew up in Des Moines Omaha, and St Paul, I have to disagree. The Quad Cities area and other centers along the Mississippi in IA are similar to cities in the western part of the traditional Great Lakes states defined by the Northwest Ordinance (IL, IN, MI, OH, WI). Des Moines is more like Omaha than like Chicago or Milwaukee.
If you look at cultural markers like
membership in mainline protestant denominations, IA (#3) is clearly in the group with ND (#1), SD (#2), MN (#4), NE (#5).
Poll
