Make your own U.S. regions and divisions

[Goldwater]

I thought it would be interesting to see how different posters divide up the country. For reference, here are the official U.S. Census regions and divisions:



However, I do want to follow a few rules when making you map:

1. You need to have four regions and nine divisions, like the official map does.
2. With the obvious exceptions of Alaska and Hawaii, all of the states in each region and division mus be contiguous.
3. Each division must have a minimum of three states, and each region must have at least 2 divisions.

[Goldwater]

Here's what I came up with:

Region 1: The Northeast

• New England (CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT)
• Mid Atlantic (DC, DE, MD, NJ, NY, PA)

Region 2: The South

• Deep South (AL, FL, LA, MS, GA, SC)
• Upper South (AR, KY, MO, NC, TN, VA, WV)

Region 3: The Heartland

• Midwest (IA, IL, IN, MI, MN, WI)
• Great Plains (KS, ND, NE, OK, SD)

Region 4: The West

• Pacific (AK, CA, HI, OR, WA)
• Mountain West (CO, ID, MT, NV, UT, WY)
• Southwest (AZ, NM, TX)

It's not perfect, but IMO it works a bit better than the official ones.

[ilikeverin]

Region 1: the Northeast
Division 1A: New England (ME, NH, VT, MA, RI)
Division 1B: Mid-Atlantic (CT, NY, NJ, PA, DE, MD, DC, VA)

Region 2: the South
Division 2A: Inland South (WV, KY, TN, MO, AR, OK)
Division 2B: Coastal South (NC, SC, GA, FL, AL, MS, LA, TX)

Region 3: the Midwest
Division 3A: Rust Belt (OH, MI, IN, IL)
Division 3B: Upper Midwest (MN, WI, IA)

Region 4: the West
Division 4A: "Mountain" West/God's Country (UT, ID, WY, MT, ND, SD, NE, KS)
Division 4B: Southwest (CO, NM, AZ, NV)
Division 4C: Pacific Coast (AK, HI, WA, OR, CA)

4A could maybe become 3C and join with the Midwest.  I don't dislike Goldwater's "Great Plains" region, either; in that case, maybe join 4B and the remaining 4A?

[memphis]

Problem is that many states encompass more than one ideal region and need to be broken up.  There's no way to make the entire state of Texas fit into any one region.

[SNJ1985]

I would personally keep the existing classifications, but move Maryland and Delaware into the Northeast. Perhaps these states had Southern characteristics at one time, but they have more in common with the Mid-Atlantic states nowadays.

[Goldwater]

Problem is that many states encompass more than one ideal region and need to be broken up.  There's no way to make the entire state of Texas fit into any one region.

Yeah, Texas is quite a tricky situation. Still, I thought it would be to try to work within the parameters of the existing states.

[muon2]

I've done this one before in a similar thread. My main changes are to shift the Mid Atlantic further south, and to create a Southwest region from states that have a significant Latino influence (but leaving CA in the Pacific).

Region 1: the Northeast
Division 1A: New England (CT, ME, NH, VT, MA, RI)
Division 1B: Mid-Atlantic (NY, NJ, PA, DE, MD, DC, WV)

Region 2: the South
Division 2A: Atlantic South (FL, GA, NC, SC, VA)
Division 2B: Delta South (AL, AR, KY, LA, MS, TN)

Region 3: the Midwest
Division 3A: Great Lakes (IL, IN, MI, OH, WI)
Division 3B: Great Plains (IA, KS, MN, MO, NE, ND, OK, SD)

Region 4: the West
Division 4A: Rocky Mountain (CO, ID, MT, NV, UT, WY)
Division 4B: Southwest (AZ, NM, TX)
Division 4C: Pacific (AK, HI, WA, OR, CA)

[Adam Griffin]

[justfollowingtheelections]

Four regions of approximately the same population

[dpmapper]

Texas is problematic so I give it its own shade.  If forced to choose I'll put it with the other gulf states.

[Antonio the Sixth]

It's only indirectly related to this thread, but still. I ran a PCA on State presidential election margins from 1976 to 2012, and followed with a hierarchic clustering which yielded 7 categories. Here's what it looks like.

Basically, States in the same categories tended to display a similar electoral evolution... It's interesting to see that, on these criteria, Pennsylvania seems to have more in common with the Midwest than with the Northeast. Or the way in which most of the South stands out.

[Goldwater]

Seeing you post here reminded me, I wanted to make a region map with your alternate states. Here's what I came up with:

[ElectionsGuy]

[Kraxner]

Region 1: Great lakes  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y66j_BUCBMY
Division 1A: New England (CT, ME, NH, VT, MA, RI)   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPhWR4d3FJQ
Division 1B: Mid-Atlantic (NY, NJ, DE, MD, DC)   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UjsXo9l6I8
Division 1C: Midlands (MI, WI, IL, IA, MN) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bDLIV96LD4

Region 2: Dixie  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwWUOmk7wO0
Division 2A: Atlantic South (FL, GA, NC, SC, LA, VA, AL, MS)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PvebsWcpto
Division 2B: Florida (FL) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFy0hQ3lY-w

Region 3: Heartland  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9IfHDi-2EA
Division 3A: Greater Appalachia (AR, MO, KY, TN, OH, IN, WV, PN)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GN1iI-DaJNw
Division 3B: Mountain West (ND, SD, KS, NE, OK, TX, MT, WY, CO, UT, ID, AK) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLWD2WIvRQk

Region 4: the West   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVwckL8Q3_Y
Division 4A: Southwest (AZ, NM, NV) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-gYJBsln-w
Division 4B: Pacific (HI, WA, OR, CA)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6P0SitRwy8

[old timey villain]

Those of you dividing the south into upper and lower divisions don't understand the south these days. There's much more of a divide between the interior south and the Atlantic south

[Antonio the Sixth]

Seeing you post here reminded me, I wanted to make a region map with your alternate states. Here's what I came up with:

Interesting!

Here's my take (with a bit more regions):

[Mehmentum]

Regions & Divisions are made so that they are roughly equal in EVs.  Each division within a region is denoted by a different shade of that region's color.

Northeast: 108 EVs
Division 1 (New England): 62 EVs.
Division 2 (Mid Atlantic): 50 EVs.

South: 182 EVs
Division 1 (Upper South): 61 EVs
Division 2 (Southeast): 60 EVs
Division 3 (Deep South): 59 EVs

Midwest: 118 EVs
Division 1 (Rust Belt): 65 EVs
Division 2 (Agrarian Midwest) 53 EVs

West: 128 EVs
Region 1 (West Coast): 66 EVs
Region 2 (Mountain West): 62 EVs

[Oldiesfreak1854]

Northeast
New England: CT, ME, MA, NH, RI, VT (pretty self-explanatory)
Mid-Atlantic: DE, DC, MD, NJ, NY, PA

Midwest
Upper Midwest: IL, IN, IA, MI, MN, OH, WI
Lower Midwest: KS, MO, NE, ND, SD

South
Deep South: AL, GA, LA, MS, SC
Outer South: AR, FL, KY, NC, OK, TN, TX, VA, WV

West
Pacific Coast: CA, HI, OR, WA
Mountain West: AK, AZ, CO, ID, MT, NV, NM, UT