The Midwest

[Gass3268]

Inspired by the poll on The South. What do you guys think?

Personally, I'm a Midwest purist and I only consider the states that made up the Big Ten before the 90's to be truly 100% Midwestern. Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma and West Virginia are Southern, even though there are Midwestern elements here. Colorado is purely Western. The western parts New York and Pennsylvania have Midwestern elements, but are essential Northeastern states. Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota are close, but they are Plaines states, which is too Western to be considered Midwestern.

[Goldwater]

The plains states plus the Great Lake states. Do some people seriously consider Colorado Midwestern? WTF?

[Santander]

I've never seen another definition. Big Ten country is a subset of the Midwest.

[RINO Tom]

I've never seen another definition. Big Ten country is a subset of the Midwest.

Like, this is just the correct definition, haha.  That is why I think it's so weird that we have all of these discussions about where "The South" is ... the Midwest is SO different going from North Dakota to Michigan back to Kansas and to Ohio ... but all of that area is just quite literally the Midwest.

[Goldwater]

If I divide the country into West, Midwest, South, and northeast, it would like something like this:

Though I tend to flip-flop on whether Texas is Western or Southern, and Oklahoma doesn't quite fit into any of the regions in my mind...

[Santander]

Oklahoma is just Texas Jr. - it belongs in whatever region Texas is in.

[angus]

[America Needs R'hllor]

When I think of the Dakotas, Kansas and Nebraska I think of the west.
So I define it as Iowa, Missouri, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.

[Goldwater]

If you are going to have a separate Southwest region, it seems weird to not include AZ in it...

[angus]

I considered that, but I wanted to give the intermontane west some population.  That said, I agree with you.  I reconsidered DC as well.  After all, it's not even a state.

[RINO Tom]

While we're on the subject, I think this is the most basic breakdown for me (I think that just because DC was such a crutial "breaking point" in the Civil War, I am fine with letting Maryland and Delaware shed their original Southern stock for Northeastern):

However, if we are going to divide by subregion, my map would look something like this:

THE NORTHEAST
Dark Red: New England
Red: Non-New England Northeast
Pink: More Mid-Atlantic

THE SOUTH
Dark Green: The Deep South
Green: Clearly Southern but significant differences from the Deep South
Light Green: Part of the geographic region that is the South, some culturally Southern areas, but a very significant population of people who would not identify as Southern

THE MIDWEST
Dark Blue: The core of the Midwest, Big Ten Country, etc.
Blue: The Plains, clearly Midwestern but different culturally than Big Ten Country (more of a Western influence)
Light Blue: Really just fits into the Midwest by default ... parts of it are Plains-ish (KC), parts are Midwestern (STL), parts are Southern

THE WEST
Dark Yellow: West Coast
Yellow: Southwest
Light Yellow: Mountain West
Gray: When you do subregions, Alaska and Hawaii really just deserve their own, LOL.

[White Trash]

RINO Tom is spot on.

[Since I'm the mad scientist proclaimed by myself]

Lake states, IA, MO, PA

I view the plains states as their own region.

[Santander]

Wow, for once I agree with RINO Tom completely.

[Goldwater]

This is not really as well thought out and just something I did for fun, but at one point I decided to divide the contiguous 48 states (+DC) into 7 regions of 7 states each, and this is what I came up with:

[nicholas.slaydon]

[angus]

This is not really as well thought out and just something I did for fun, but at one point I decided to divide the contiguous 48 states (+DC) into 7 regions of 7 states each, and this is what I came up with:

amusing.  equal number of states each, but try seven states with equal population each.  That's harder.  Here's a map with fifty states of equal population:



I think I live in Susquehana, which I would call part of the Middle Atlantic region.  (It appears that Lancaster County is in Susquehana and neighboring Chester County is in Philadelphia, but I might be mistaken.)

In this map, I would define the midwest as Missouri, Lincoln, Green Bay, Wabash, Chicago, Michiana, Detroit, North Coast, Sohio, St. Croix, High Plains, Llano Estacado, and Brownia.

(I feel weird putting Sohio and North Coast in the "midwest" but no weirder than I feel putting Ohio, a state entirely within the easternmost of our four time zones, in the "midwest" and I always do, mostly because I've been told all my life that Ohio is in the Midwest.)
 

[Hoosier_Nick]

When I think of the Dakotas, Kansas and Nebraska I think of the west.
So I define it as Iowa, Missouri, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.

[Antonio the Sixth]

All but CO, KY, NY, OK, PA and WV. OK and PA are arguable, though.

[Kingpoleon]

I believe a more accurate name would be Mideast.

[TDAS04]

This is my definition.

Pennsylvania is clearly in the Northeat because of geography (even Ohio is getting a bit Eastern).  

[DavidB.]

[TDAS04]

Pennsylvania may be more Midwestern in its contemporary politics, but it is a Northeastern state.  Just as Illinois is a Midwestern state; Illinois may look more like a Northeast state politically, but it's clearly not Northeastern since it's so far from the Northeast geographically. 

I don't have a problem debating the Plains state, since they are both a mix a Midwest and West culturally and a link between the regions geographically.  I still consider Plains states such as my own to be Midwestern on balance, but it definitely feels like I'm in the Wild West when I'm in the Black Hills region.

[(Still) muted by Kalwejt until March 31]

Doubt if Illinois can really be considered a part of the Midwest anymore; Missouri is a southern state. Not entirely sure if Oklahoma is southern or midwestern.

[Goldwater]

Doubt if Illinois can really be considered a part of the Midwest anymore

Then what is it? The only other region it's geographically somewhat close to is the South, which would make even less sense.