Which states qualify as culturally Southern?

[Donerail]

Florida outside of Miami is definitively the South.

Aye.  I lived in Panama City (Tyndall AFB) for 2 years and it's quite rednecky.  Especially if you dare to drive inland for about 10 minutes.  Where I was at wasn't too bad because of the AFB and the "party" culture of PCB, but head north and it turned Deliverance right quick.

I spent the night in Quincy, Florida. It's right on the Alabama border and I had to remind myself several times that I wasn't in Alabama .

I'd expand the Miami qualification all the way up to Orlando, minus the Everglades/central southwest Florida areas.

The line between 'South' and 'not-South' is very much an iffy line. Glades are definitely Southern, but Naples isn't. La Belle is, but Cape Coral isn't. Hell, Ocala is, but Gainesville really isn't. There's really no way to draw the line clearly, but I-4's probably the best line that exists.

[AggregateDemand]

Not Indiana, Missouri, West Virginia or Florida.

Indiana, Missouri, and West Virginia are just country. Florida is dominated by major metropolises populated by people with non-Southern culture.

[Mr. Illini]

All of: Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, West Virginia

Parts of: Virginia, Florida, Texas

We do like to joke that Indiana is the "south of the north" here, though.

[King]

Orlando is a Southern city like Charlotte or Atlanta.  More liberal maybe, but you're still in the South.

Nothing about the Miami area is Southern.

[Rockefeller GOP]

All but Indiana.

[Frodo]

All of the above, especially the southern half of Virginia and the northern half of Florida.  

[muon2]

I like Griff's approach with the shaded areas, and I might quibble on some of the lines (head west a little more into TX and OK, north into the MO Ozarks.) But none of DFW, OKC, or St Louis are truly southern in a cultural sense.

For my tally, I estimate the southernness by the fraction of CDs that are predominantly southern. It seems like the right metric for the Atlas. Here are the states I didn't check.

FL: The Panhandle and Jacksonville make up 4 CDs of 27. I was just in the Daytona Beach CD this summer, and it wasn't very southern - it was more like the touristy areas of central FL, it only got southern as I went west of US-1/I-95 in the areas of low population. It's been about a decade since I was in the Ocala area, and I would concede some southernness there, but the south half of that CD is the stretch from The Villages to Spring Hill and that's back to the central FL retirement lifestyle. At best the south makes up 5 CDs of 27.

TX: There are 5 CDs that are primarily east of the I-45 corridor between Dallas and Houston and I would be happy to classify those as southern. Dallas/Fort Worth is southern Plains, bordering on the southwest, and everything south of Austin is southwestern with its Tejano influence.  I'm not sure where to place Houston and its 7 CDs of population, but even if it's southern that only gives the southern area 12 out of 36 CDs.

OK: The southeastern part is the only part that is genuinely southern and that's 1 CD out of 5. Both OKC and Tusla are cities of the southern Plains, and in this case they even share the same Midland dialect with much of KS. The lack of any large Hispanic population keeps OK out of the southwest, too.

MO: KC is a quintessential Plains city, and St Louis is more like Chicago than any other large city. St Louis even shares a lot of Chicago dialect and terminates the "St Louis corridor" that connects the two dialectically. That leaves the Springfield, Ozark, and Bootheel regions which make up 2-3 CDs out of 8.

IN: Evansville has some of the same feel as Louisville, so I can be generous and call that southern. But Indianapolis is not in that category. At best it has 2 CDs out of 9.

WV: I wouldn't confuse Appalachian for Southern. Beckley is southern, but you could move industrial Charleston to western PA, and I don't know that I could tell the difference. That gives the southern area only 1 CD out of 3.

Borderline in VA: The 3+ NoVa CDs are definitely not southern. It's been about 12 years since I spent time in the Williamsburg/Hampton Roads area, but back then it seemed far more southern than not. I'm not buying that it has changed so much in a decade so I still count 7 of 11 CDs as culturally southern.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

makes a lot of sense, Muon.

Are there any parts of KY that would not be Southern? Maybe the area right outside of Cincinnati?

[muon2]

makes a lot of sense, Muon.

Are there any parts of KY that would not be Southern? Maybe the area right outside of Cincinnati?

That would be my sense, but it's a close call. Even if that area didn't count, it still leaves 5 out of 6 KY CDs as southern.

[pbrower2a]

Orlando is a Southern city like Charlotte or Atlanta.  More liberal maybe, but you're still in the South.

Nothing about the Miami area is Southern.

Like El Paso, Laredo, and the lower Rio Grande Valley, Miami is culturally Latin-American.

[courts]

all other than maybe texas

[Person Man]

All of: Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, West Virginia

Parts of: Virginia, Florida, Texas

We do like to joke that Indiana is the "south of the north" here, though.

I'd go with that. There is even parts of Southern Ohio that you could consider "Southern". I heard a lot of people from Kentucky crossed into Ohio and Indiana during the 50s. With only one full-sized Midwestern city, Indiana is much more conservative that Ohio, that has several Midwestern cities...or it could just be that Indiana is much more rural, but its no more rural than its neighbors to the north.

[All Along The Watchtower]

Depends on the definition of "Southern", doesn't it?

[politicus]

Depends on the definition of "Southern", doesn't it?

Yes, Captain Obvious, which is why I asked how you would define the term in the OP.

[muon2]

Depends on the definition of "Southern", doesn't it?

Yes, Captain Obvious, which is why I asked how you would define the term in the OP.

I've been hoping to see more definitions myself, but most of the comments just state their vote with little or nothing to back it up.

[RR1997]

All but Indiana, Florida, and West Virginia.

[Craziaskowboi]

If you're along or south of U.S. 60, you're in the South, period. If you're along or north of U.S. 50, you're NOT in the South, period. Between U.S. 50 and U.S. 60 is where the North and the South blend, with the culture becoming more Southern closer to U.S. 60, and more Northern closer to U.S. 50. This rule applies as far west as the 96th meridian. Nowhere west of the 96th meridian is in the South.

By the way, Texas, Missouri, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia and Maryland are not entirely Southern. In fact, Texas and Missouri are mostly NOT Southern. In Texas, the South ends at the Trinity River, which very closely approximates the 96th meridian, and the only region Missouri that's Southern is the "boot heel" and the Ozark Mountains south of about Rolla. The rest of Texas is part of the Great Plains or West, and the rest of Missouri is part of the Midwest. Kentucky is mostly Southern, though northern Kentucky becomes more Midwestern the closer you get to Cincinnati. West Virginia can be divided into even thirds. The southern third is Southern, the northern third is NOT Southern, and the middle third is a blend. Virginia is mostly Southern, and very proud of its Southern heritage at that, but far northern Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley have never been totally Southern. Maryland used to be more culturally Southern, but I've never really considered it a Southern state, and the last bastion of Southernness in Maryland is the southern half of the Delmarva Peninsula, around Salisbury and Ocean City.

[IceSpear]

All the red states on this map.

[beaver2.0]

All but Missouri and Indiana.  I will admit that "culturally Southern" is going away.  I consider Virginia and Florida culturally Southern, at least for historical reasons.  Texas and Louisiana have similar statuses, but are culturally Southern.

[Orser67]

If you're along or south of U.S. 60, you're in the South, period. If you're along or north of U.S. 50, you're NOT in the South, period. Between U.S. 50 and U.S. 60 is where the North and the South blend, with the culture becoming more Southern closer to U.S. 60, and more Northern closer to U.S. 50. This rule applies as far west as the 96th meridian. Nowhere west of the 96th meridian is in the South.

This seems like a pretty solid definition of the South.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

Completely Southern: NC, SC, GA, AL, MS, TN, KY, LA, TX, OK, AR
Mostly Southern: MO, VA, FL, WV
Tiny Bit Southern: IN, IL, MD, DE, KS
If you're really stretching it, you could make arguments for small parts of New Mexico, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, but most normal people would shoot you down instantly.

[ElectionsGuy]

This is perfect.

[muon2]

If you're along or south of U.S. 60, you're in the South, period. If you're along or north of U.S. 50, you're NOT in the South, period. Between U.S. 50 and U.S. 60 is where the North and the South blend, with the culture becoming more Southern closer to U.S. 60, and more Northern closer to U.S. 50. This rule applies as far west as the 96th meridian. Nowhere west of the 96th meridian is in the South.

This seems like a pretty solid definition of the South.

I agree, except it needs a southern cutoff in FL. The I-10 corridor is north of the line and the I-4 corridor is south and outside of the line.

[muon2]

All but Missouri and Indiana.  I will admit that "culturally Southern" is going away.  I consider Virginia and Florida culturally Southern, at least for historical reasons.  Texas and Louisiana have similar statuses, but are culturally Southern.

There's a huge difference between LA and TX unless you ignore the vast majority of TX west of the Trinity river.

[Mr. Reactionary]

Appalachian culture =/= Southern culture