Subregions of the Midwest

[King of Kensington]

The US Census Bureau divides the Midwest into 2 divisions, East North Central and West North Central.  East North Central (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin) seems like a fairly coherent region (Great Lakes/industrial heartland), though in many respects Wisconsin is more aligned with Minnesota.  West North Central seems to be just "Midwest, other" - there doesn't seem to be much linking Missouri and the Dakotas together.

[TDAS04]

I would divide the Midwest into regions like these.  I agree that Wisconsin is more like Minnesota than it is like the states to the east.  I put Iowa with Minnesota and Wisconsin because it's similar culturally and politically, even if Iowa is more like a plains state in some ways.  I made Missouri pink because it's as much of a Southern state as a Midwestern state, imo.

[Goldwater]

I would probably divide it like TDAS04 does, although I would also consider Kentucky and west Virginia in the pink South/Midwest borderline category, and probably include Oklahoma with the great plains states.

[King of Kensington]

That map seems perfect.  So you have (this is an admittedly crude assessment):

the "eastern" Midwest:  core of the industrial heartland, "ethnic/Catholic" big cities (Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland), much larger African American population, residual "Yankeedom" of northeast Ohio and Michigan, etc.  Farms resemble those "back east" (NY/PA) more than those of the Great Plains.

the "central" Midwest:  some industry but not part of the core industrial heartland, very German/Scandinavian (in much of the region they dominate), history of progressive populism.  Agricultural but not the Great Plains, i.e. corn and dairy. Wisconsin shares characteristics with Illinois/Michigan, Milwaukee may fit more in the eastern area, but also shares similarities with Minnesota.

the Great Plains: much more rural and conservative and less densely populated.  Wheat farming prominent. Not part of the Northwest Territory.  Transitions into the West.  German/Norwegian north, more "old stock" American in the south.  

Missouri:  Midwestern state with Southern characteristics

[King of Kensington]

I would probably divide it like TDAS04 does, although I would also consider Kentucky and west Virginia in the pink South/Midwest borderline category, and probably include Oklahoma with the great plains states.

I think of Oklahoma as the western South, along with Texas.

[ElectionsGuy]

Same as TDAS except I would put Michigan with IA, MN, and WI as an overall 'upper midwest' region. IL, IN, and OH as a 'lower midwest' region, MO as the sole state characterized as 'southern midwest' (but it wouldn't be insane to put it with the others in the lower midwest) and the rest as Great Plains states.

[muon2]

I've lived at length in MN, IA and IL and spent a lot of time in WI in between. The coastal WI cities of Milwaukee, Racine, and Sheboygan are a match for the other Great Lakes states as traditional industrial heartland cities. Madison, La Crosse and Eau Claire fit well with MN and eastern IA. The historical paper milling areas of Appleton and Green Bay have a history that ties them more to the other eastern cities. So, if one places WI on population it goes with IL and MI. If one places WI on area it goes with MN and IA. I'd group it by population to the east, but I can understand those who would place it by area to the west.

[muon2]

As I write this I'm sitting in KC MO and there is little that is southern about this area. It is as much a plains city as Omaha and Minneapolis. St Louis isn't very southern either and looks like any other industrial town of the Midwest. If MO is southern then so is IN, but that's essentially giving weight to the 20-30% of those states that do have southern influence rather than the 70-80% that are Midwestern.

[Mr. Illini]

I prefer to use just two subregions: Great Lakes and Great Plains. Illinois and Wisconsin are inseparable IMO, as are Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Creating some controversy may be that I put Iowa in the Great Lakes subregion. Of course the region is called "Great Lakes" but physically touching water means little. Culturally I see Iowa as more similar to parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois, than their fellow Plains neighbors.

[King of Kensington]

As I write this I'm sitting in KC MO and there is little that is southern about this area. It is as much a plains city as Omaha and Minneapolis. St Louis isn't very southern either and looks like any other industrial town of the Midwest. If MO is southern then so is IN, but that's essentially giving weight to the 20-30% of those states that do have southern influence rather than the 70-80% that are Midwestern.

It seems like you agree with the Census Bureau's ENC/WNC split. 

[muon2]

As I write this I'm sitting in KC MO and there is little that is southern about this area. It is as much a plains city as Omaha and Minneapolis. St Louis isn't very southern either and looks like any other industrial town of the Midwest. If MO is southern then so is IN, but that's essentially giving weight to the 20-30% of those states that do have southern influence rather than the 70-80% that are Midwestern.

It seems like you agree with the Census Bureau's ENC/WNC split. 

It makes more sense than most of the alteratives using whole states. I'd like the statistical areas grouped at the county level so that metro areas could be kept intact.

The only change I would make is to put OK with the Great Plains rather than the South. OKC has more in common with KCMO than with Little Rock. But then again I think that there should be a Southwest statistical region with AZ, NM and TX.

[Ebsy]

Missouri is state of conflicting identities, but it definitely isn't more southern than Midwestern.

[King of Kensington]

A South Dakotan weighs in:

http://www.vox.com/2016/1/28/10861176/great-plains-midwest

[King of Kensington]

Culturally I see Iowa as more similar to parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois, than their fellow Plains neighbors.

Iowa isn't a Plains state at all though.  It's in the corn belt and most of the population is in the eastern part of the state.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Something like that?



Rust Belt
Little Dixie
Chicagoland
Lakes
Mississippi Bassin
Plains

[Kingpoleon]

[Hydera]

Something like that?



Rust Belt
Little Dixie
Chicagoland
Lakes
Mississippi Bassin
Plains

I like that map but i'd change it a little.



Core Rust Belt
Greater South/Appalachia
Greater Chicago Region
Great Lakes
Driftless Zone
Plains
Greater Central Plains?

[muon2]

Something like that?



Rust Belt
Little Dixie
Chicagoland
Lakes
Mississippi Bassin
Plains

I like that map but i'd change it a little.



Core Rust Belt
Greater South/Appalachia
Greater Chicago Region
Great Lakes
Driftless Zone
Plains
Greater Central Plains?

I definitely agree with the second map with a pink band, but I would call it the Central Midland based on the dominant dialect there.

However, I think the first map is correct that NW MN is in the Great Plains. That's the flat bottom land of Glacial Lake Agassiz. I would also pull the Great Lakes band further south to the northern edge of the Twin Cities suburbs. The Twin Cities really aren't in the Driftless Area either and are really a large urban area at the SW edge of the Lakes region.

Here were the two maps covering the Midwest that I made on the county level in 2013. It was part of a redivision of the 50 states based on the Nine Nations of North America. Each "state" is no less than half, nor more than twice the average state population. If you link some of these "states" together you would get my regions.

Breadbasket (pop in millions):

Dakota (Omaha) 4.2
Ojibwe (Minneapolis) 5.5
Sauk (Madison, Des Moines) 5.1
Illini (St Louis) 5.8
Kansa (Kansas City) 4.3
Comanche (Oklahoma City) 5.3
Wichita (Dallas) 9.6

Foundry (pop in millions):

Winnebago (Milwaukee) 4.2
Meskwaki (Chicago) 9.7
Potawatomi (Fort Wayne, Grand Rapids) 4.5
Ottawa (Detroit) 5.7
Erie (Cleveland) 4.3
Miami (Columbus) 8.9
Mingo (Pittsburgh) 8.7
Iroquois (Buffalo) 5.1
Susquehannock (Washington, Baltimore) 10.8
Lenape (Philadelphia) 7.0
Raritan (Newark) 5.5
Munsee (New York) 8.4
Montauk (Brooklyn) 7.6

[Ban my account ffs!]

We shouldn't be splitting states up here, except maybe the UP and LP of Michigan.

Even if far southern Minnesota is a bit different from far northern Minnesota... being in Minnesota provides a cultural sameness.