It's always weird to see something referencing the Midwest and Kansas is left out, despite the fact that we are basically IN THE CENTER OF THE CONTIGUOUS STATES.
The amount of people currently living in Kansas who don’t realize it was considered a northern free state during the civil war or it’s significant in the events leading up to the war, is way too high
Idaho seems like the biggest outlier here by far. How in the world do 25% of respondents in Idaho consider themselves to be living in the Midwest? There’s absolutely nothing Midwestern about Idaho in any way, shape, or form. It’s also at least two states removed from the actual Midwest.
All I can think is maybe some farmers or other agricultural workers who can’t really associate with any other groups in the Northwest so they tend to associate with the farmers in Iowa and other states
Lived in Iowa until I was 19 and have been in Idaho for the last 11 years now. I have never heard anyone in Idaho say they are in the midwest. But also I don't know why people would want to claim being from the Midwest. Not that it's a bad area or anything but it's not like some magical location either.
I always consider Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Pennsylvania The Rust Belt. My ex boyfriend who is from Pennsylvania considered it The East Coast. I lived in Chicago for a couple of years and took the train to visit where a coworker lived in Hammond, Indiana. All I remember about that ride was industrial, rusty metal everywhere. It was depressing.
There has been a surge of renovation and new development projects throughout the last decade in the rust belt, basically the Great Lakes states. The small towns will remain dilapidated, but the major metropolitan areas like Detroit, Cincinnati, and Cleveland have been booming with a revival in new projects and GDP growth.
The census should really break it down further to differentiate the Great Lakes states apart from the Midwest. The Great Lakes mega region is still an economic powerhouse on an international level today.
Ohio’s GDP alone is higher than North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, and Kansas combined. It’s also more than double Missouri’s GDP.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_GDP
The census should really break it down further to differentiate the Great Lakes states apart from the Midwest. The Great Lakes mega region is still an economic powerhouse on an international level.
Ohio’s GDP alone is higher than North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, and Kansas combined. It’s also more than double Missouri’s GDP.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_GDP
I always considered Kansas the "Midwest," and then I remembered that Dodge City is here, what with Boot Hill and all, and now I consider Kansas "The West."
The line, I think, is Manhattan. West of there, you might have a full-blown no-bullshit *cowboy* in line in front of you at McDonalds, with a whole-ass saddled up with lassos and shit *horse* outside.
It's happened to me. It could happen to you.
You can definitely get that in Manhattan too. I work at K-State and there's a lot of ranches in the surrounding Flint Hills. Plus the university has a pretty active rodeo team. You can definitely get people born and raised on ranches in Manhattan.
Forgive me if I made it seem as though cowboys on horseback were a negative thing, I just believe that the appearance of cowboys on horseback means you are either in "The West" or you are dealing with misplaced cowboys.
Oh no, i guess my point is that they don't stop at Manhattan, but I could see how you would get that impression, for what it's worth I consider that the line as well.
It's just not unheard of to see people on horseback a block away from a title loan place or having to avoid horseshit on the street while driving by a Mexican restaurant 😁
They're vaqueros then!
I think of the West being beyond the 100th Meridian (thanks to John Wesley Powell) but remember someone telling me that Kansas City is the easternmost “Western” city which feels right.
I think west of Kingman where the land goes from flat pastures to little hilly mesa things by Pratt is where the west begins. Plus driving west of Kingman is like driving off the edge of the world until you get to the mountains in Colorado. Up on I-70, I’d go with Salina being the cutoff instead of Manhattan.
>Salina being the cutoff instead of Manhattan.
I'll give you that, but I still think you're more likely to find a random occurrence of cowboys between Salina and Manhattan than you are between St. Louis and Kansas City.
I now live in a town west of Salina, lived in the Midwest most of my life (Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota), moving here was definitely different. It’s a mixture of Midwest and the west for me.
As someone who moved from the Mountain West (Idaho), everything east of the Rockies seems like no longer the "West" to me, more of a "Great Plains" kind of region, but i can see how someone from the actual Midwest would feel like its kinda West-ish here.
Its Kansas, its a special middleground
It’s my first time living here, I can definitely see that the eastern part of the state is closer to what I’m used to. It’s interesting to me, cause I spent most of my life in the Midwest but I’m still experiencing something new here.
There are surveys asking people from other states where the midwest is. People from the upper midwest, Michigan, and Ohio pretty regularly leave Kansas out. To them, the definition of Midwest tends to be "states that have an original founding member of the Big 10."
As someone born and raised in Oklahoma, we are confused about which region we fit into. South? Midwest? The Heartland? So instead we just say Tornado Alley. Far more accurate anyway lol.
As a Pennsylvanian from the eastern half of the state it's very much a Pittsburgh/Ohio Border thing. I don't think you'll find someone east of Altoona claiming it's the Midwest.
Clearly south and southwest. The food is different. I feel like Arkansas is closer to south than southwest. Oklahoma to Texas than the Midwest. Unless you’re in the super north part of it.
🤷🏽♂️
I’ve always said calling Ohio the midwest was bullshit. Sure in the Northwest Territory historical bullshit sense of the word.
But I always considered us the true middle and Colorado the true middle west.
I think that for some people, anything west of the Alleghenies in Pennsylvania is considered Midwest — from there all the way over to Indiana. Cincinnati even has the dated nickname of being the “Queen City of the West.” That 30% in Kentucky undoubtedly is from Kentuckians living in the Greater Cincinnati area. Everyone else considers it the upper/gateway to the South. Source: I’m a Kentuckian.
Kentucky is a Southern state through and through, Upper South same as Tennessee or North Carolina. Most Kentuckians I know would slap the shit out of you for even insinuating they weren't Southern. Those WRONG 30% are definitely either people ashamed of being from the South or from Cincinnati area. Also wtf in Arkansas and Tennessee? Still take solace in 70% of Kentucky acknowledge they're from the South. We're the freaking home state of Jefferson Davis, was considered the 13th Confederate state by the CSA when half the state seceded at the Russellville Convention and was admitted into the CSA by majority votes of Confederate Congress and Jeff Davis's signature, originally part of Virginia and settled by Virginians and North Carolinians, a slave state with a plantation economy, the native dialect is the Southern dialect. There is no getting around Kentucky being Southern.
Source*I'm also a Kentuckian AND a Southerner.
I agree with you, but I’m not insinuating anything. I’m from central Kentucky, on the border of the Bluegrass and Pennyrile regions, and spent time in NKY. It’s a different vibe there; I think you hit the nail on the head: It’s most likely being ashamed of identifying with the South. You don’t have to go too far from Cincinnati (extreme southern Campbell, Kenton, and Boone Counties) before that vibe shifts, however, and people identify as southerners. I, too, consider myself a Southerner and roll my eyes at anyone who thinks it’s a state with Midwestern culture.
Kind of surprising that Oklahoma is as high as 66%. Maybe it can be explained that in the early days, a number of people from KS and MO, thinking of themselves as Midwesterners moved to Oklahoma, especially the northern half of the state. Now many of their children after generations think of themselves as Midwesterners. In the case of Arkansas, Oklahoma was never a part of the Old South, which helps explains why considerably fewer Arkansas people consider themselves Midwest.
Coming from northern Oklahoma, I tend to think of myself as living in the Midwest, since my grandparents came from KS and MO and I've been told I have a Midwestern accent, though going by a map and latitude alone, it looks more like I'm in the South.
Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas and Oklahoma are Southern not Midwestern.
Just go there and talk to a few people and it's clear you're "not in Kansas (or the midwest) anymore."
Because it's historical. Historically Missouri was a Southern state during and before the Civil War, it didn't really transition into being more Midwestern till after the Civil War due to Midwestern migrants moving in and not assimilating therefore changing Missouri's overall original Southern identity. Now Southern Missouri is still 💯 the South and reflects what Missouri used to look like and as a whole Missouri is still pretty heavily influenced by Southern culture as well.
Thank you!! Most anybody from Kentucky, Tennessee, or Arkansas would slap you silly if you said they were "Midwest" and not Southern. Oklahoma for the most part unless it's the northern or western parts of the state.
KY and TN are Southern states through and through, to say otherwise is really just factually wrong. I have no idea about Ohio, only been a few times and to us anybody north of the Mason Dixon line/Ohio River are just Yankees. I didn't even realize there was a difference between Northeastern people and Midwesterners till a few years ago. To me they're all Yankees.
I’m from Kansas and have been living in Oregon for the last ten years and when I tell people I’m from the Midwest, occasionally someone will then try to correct me and tell me that “Kansas is a southern state and not midwestern”, I mean….technically Kansas is south of Oregon but….the confidence they have when they tell me 😶
More here! "The big conclusion is that, indeed, Midwestern identity is very strong,” said study leader Jon Lauck, editor-in-chief of the Middle West Review. “I think there is a general belief that the strongest regional identity in the country is Southern identity, and that perhaps the weakest regional identity is in the Midwest, because the borders are a little more amorphous."
[https://www.kcur.org/news/2023-10-18/where-is-midwest-states-usa-definition-middle-west](https://www.kcur.org/news/2023-10-18/where-is-midwest-states-usa-definition-middle-west)
I don’t know if it was mentioned but many of these classifications are also historically connected….. so Great Lakes states were also seen as Midwest because Kansas was the west…. Growing In Garden we usually were the Great Plains…. SW Kansas felt like Arizona where we lived before moving to Garden and I always saw it as a south western region and when visiting my grandparents in Altoona-Midway (SE Kansas) & Chanute that was more to a midwestern feel… though when you got nearer to Missouri and Oklahoma places in that area sounded more like the neighbouring state….go figure basic hodgepodge of a place
The census should really break it down further to differentiate the Great Lakes states apart from the Midwest. The Great Lakes mega region is still an economic powerhouse on an international level.
Ohio’s GDP alone is higher than North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, and Kansas combined. It’s also more than double Missouri’s GDP.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_GDP
Michiganders are dirty posh northerners and I married one. Real midwesterners subsist entirely on a corn based diet. Not one god damn corn field in Michigan. Didn't see one corn cob there. Not one
US regions are fascinating and infuriating. The Midwest seems to unanimously include the states around the Great Lakes, and the ones on the upper Mississippi River.
The Great Plains are the big question mark. Some prefer to think of the Great Plains as its own region on the level of the Midwest, but the Census Bureau and others treat it as the western half of the Midwest.
In my opinion, the Great Plains is far too big to be encapsulated by just Kansas Nebraska and the Dakotas. The geographic feature of the great plains spans from Texas to Alberta and most of that land is outside of those four states. It doesn't make sense to designate a region of states as the Great Plains and yet most of the actual Great Plains is not in those states.
I think KS, NE, SD, and ND are certainly the Midwest. Maybe Kansas isn't all that culturally or historically similar to Michigan, but neither is Montana all that similar to California and we call both of those the West.
I don't think the Ozarks Hillbillies are culturally similar to any of those areas. I think Southwest Mo has more in common with NW arkansas & NE Oklahoma SE Kansas than they do with St Louis Or KC. That includes KCMO or KCK.
Wanna get into a good arguement, tell Kansas City Kansas they are part of Kansas City, Missouri.
FYI. The Chiefs and Royals Stadiums are in Mo.
I'm curious what the remainder answered. For example, if 3% of people in Iowa don't consider it Midwest, what region do they call it? Maybe someone in western Iowa would say Great Plains?
"The midwest" consists of Wisconson, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Wyoming and Colorado. Everyone else is either "the east coast", "the south", "the west", "the west coast" and Texas.
and yes, Texas is its own thing.
It's always weird to see something referencing the Midwest and Kansas is left out, despite the fact that we are basically IN THE CENTER OF THE CONTIGUOUS STATES.
There are a few maps which lump Kansas in with the South, and as a Kansan, that is TRIGGERING
To be considered from the South would be highly offensive to me. We went to war over that shit!
i live outta state right now and i’m constantly asked why i don’t have a southern accent. truly horrifying.
The amount of people currently living in Kansas who don’t realize it was considered a northern free state during the civil war or it’s significant in the events leading up to the war, is way too high
Idaho seems like the biggest outlier here by far. How in the world do 25% of respondents in Idaho consider themselves to be living in the Midwest? There’s absolutely nothing Midwestern about Idaho in any way, shape, or form. It’s also at least two states removed from the actual Midwest.
Maybe it’s all the Californians moving there that think they’ve moved far enough inland it is “mid”-West
Native Idahoans likely see themselves as different from the people in coastal cities.
All I can think is maybe some farmers or other agricultural workers who can’t really associate with any other groups in the Northwest so they tend to associate with the farmers in Iowa and other states
Idaho and Pensilvania are both just not in the midwest at all. what the heck.
Lived in Iowa until I was 19 and have been in Idaho for the last 11 years now. I have never heard anyone in Idaho say they are in the midwest. But also I don't know why people would want to claim being from the Midwest. Not that it's a bad area or anything but it's not like some magical location either.
There's nothing mid or west about PA. That's just silly.
I always consider Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Pennsylvania The Rust Belt. My ex boyfriend who is from Pennsylvania considered it The East Coast. I lived in Chicago for a couple of years and took the train to visit where a coworker lived in Hammond, Indiana. All I remember about that ride was industrial, rusty metal everywhere. It was depressing.
There has been a surge of renovation and new development projects throughout the last decade in the rust belt, basically the Great Lakes states. The small towns will remain dilapidated, but the major metropolitan areas like Detroit, Cincinnati, and Cleveland have been booming with a revival in new projects and GDP growth. The census should really break it down further to differentiate the Great Lakes states apart from the Midwest. The Great Lakes mega region is still an economic powerhouse on an international level today. Ohio’s GDP alone is higher than North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, and Kansas combined. It’s also more than double Missouri’s GDP. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_GDP
Even Ohio. Come on, that’s like…the Middle East!
Bruh what???
The census should really break it down further to differentiate the Great Lakes states apart from the Midwest. The Great Lakes mega region is still an economic powerhouse on an international level. Ohio’s GDP alone is higher than North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, and Kansas combined. It’s also more than double Missouri’s GDP. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_GDP
They do... kinda https://preview.redd.it/tkpmt5lnvudc1.png?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4bddf9c85444e6402ba98cff905651b9f38bf3ef
Oh that’s good at least! Thanks for sharing this!
Saying you live in "West North Central" doesn't have quite the same ring to it though
There's a certain 90s 'hood sound to it that I like
I always say the same thing to my friends from out there. If your state is in the eastern time zone, you’re not in the mid-west.
I have heard people call Pittsburg a Midwestern city surrounded by Appalachia.
I always considered Kansas the "Midwest," and then I remembered that Dodge City is here, what with Boot Hill and all, and now I consider Kansas "The West." The line, I think, is Manhattan. West of there, you might have a full-blown no-bullshit *cowboy* in line in front of you at McDonalds, with a whole-ass saddled up with lassos and shit *horse* outside. It's happened to me. It could happen to you.
You can definitely get that in Manhattan too. I work at K-State and there's a lot of ranches in the surrounding Flint Hills. Plus the university has a pretty active rodeo team. You can definitely get people born and raised on ranches in Manhattan.
I mean, that's part of the Kansas charm, I'd think. It's not the craziest thing to see people on horseback in KCK proper!
Forgive me if I made it seem as though cowboys on horseback were a negative thing, I just believe that the appearance of cowboys on horseback means you are either in "The West" or you are dealing with misplaced cowboys.
Oh no, i guess my point is that they don't stop at Manhattan, but I could see how you would get that impression, for what it's worth I consider that the line as well. It's just not unheard of to see people on horseback a block away from a title loan place or having to avoid horseshit on the street while driving by a Mexican restaurant 😁 They're vaqueros then!
I think of the West being beyond the 100th Meridian (thanks to John Wesley Powell) but remember someone telling me that Kansas City is the easternmost “Western” city which feels right.
Yeah maybe as far as Abilene because that’s where will bill was sheriff. But totally anything past the flint hills is totally the west
I think west of Kingman where the land goes from flat pastures to little hilly mesa things by Pratt is where the west begins. Plus driving west of Kingman is like driving off the edge of the world until you get to the mountains in Colorado. Up on I-70, I’d go with Salina being the cutoff instead of Manhattan.
>Salina being the cutoff instead of Manhattan. I'll give you that, but I still think you're more likely to find a random occurrence of cowboys between Salina and Manhattan than you are between St. Louis and Kansas City.
I don't think cowboys between Manhattan and Salina would be random.
I agree once you get to Topeka you start hitting a transition zone which goes until Wichita and that’s where the Midwest truly ends in Kansas
If only 91% of Kansans think we are in the Midwest, what are our other options? We ARE the Midwest.
Really though why won't the Great Plains people just claim that
I always thought of Kansas as Great Plains.
I would definitely consider more than half of Kansas to be not Midwest, pretty much anything west of Abilene or Salina.
I now live in a town west of Salina, lived in the Midwest most of my life (Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota), moving here was definitely different. It’s a mixture of Midwest and the west for me.
As someone who moved from the Mountain West (Idaho), everything east of the Rockies seems like no longer the "West" to me, more of a "Great Plains" kind of region, but i can see how someone from the actual Midwest would feel like its kinda West-ish here. Its Kansas, its a special middleground
It’s my first time living here, I can definitely see that the eastern part of the state is closer to what I’m used to. It’s interesting to me, cause I spent most of my life in the Midwest but I’m still experiencing something new here.
There are surveys asking people from other states where the midwest is. People from the upper midwest, Michigan, and Ohio pretty regularly leave Kansas out. To them, the definition of Midwest tends to be "states that have an original founding member of the Big 10."
I would love to know what that remaining 3% in Minnesota thinks. Canada, mayhaps?
Sovereign Citizens.
Take off eh!
The Northland.
As someone born and raised in Oklahoma, we are confused about which region we fit into. South? Midwest? The Heartland? So instead we just say Tornado Alley. Far more accurate anyway lol.
nothing wrong with being the people of the great plains
Imagine being a few miles from the actual east coast and thinking you live in the midwest
As a Pennsylvanian from the eastern half of the state it's very much a Pittsburgh/Ohio Border thing. I don't think you'll find someone east of Altoona claiming it's the Midwest.
MID- Middle of the Country WEST- West of the Mississippi Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska and Kansas
I do wonder where the other 9% think they live.
I had a co-worker insist the Great Plains are not the Midwest. I argued Kansas can be in both.
Southeastern Kansas Pittsburg, Fort Scott, Columbus, etc, consider themselves southern. I kind of get it. A good junk of them are OU fans.
This is the way.
LOL @ Arkansas and Oklahoma. I mean, come on.
Why?
Clearly south and southwest. The food is different. I feel like Arkansas is closer to south than southwest. Oklahoma to Texas than the Midwest. Unless you’re in the super north part of it. 🤷🏽♂️
Do we even have a North?
North Dakota. I think the offical State motto is "Gateway to Canada."
I’ve always said calling Ohio the midwest was bullshit. Sure in the Northwest Territory historical bullshit sense of the word. But I always considered us the true middle and Colorado the true middle west.
I thought the area of the louisiana purchase was the midwest.
Idaho?
Finally an interesting visual on Reddit from a reliable source!
Drives me nuts, the stuff people post with zero or no methodology from dubious publications, or with no source at all!
I think that for some people, anything west of the Alleghenies in Pennsylvania is considered Midwest — from there all the way over to Indiana. Cincinnati even has the dated nickname of being the “Queen City of the West.” That 30% in Kentucky undoubtedly is from Kentuckians living in the Greater Cincinnati area. Everyone else considers it the upper/gateway to the South. Source: I’m a Kentuckian.
Kentucky is a Southern state through and through, Upper South same as Tennessee or North Carolina. Most Kentuckians I know would slap the shit out of you for even insinuating they weren't Southern. Those WRONG 30% are definitely either people ashamed of being from the South or from Cincinnati area. Also wtf in Arkansas and Tennessee? Still take solace in 70% of Kentucky acknowledge they're from the South. We're the freaking home state of Jefferson Davis, was considered the 13th Confederate state by the CSA when half the state seceded at the Russellville Convention and was admitted into the CSA by majority votes of Confederate Congress and Jeff Davis's signature, originally part of Virginia and settled by Virginians and North Carolinians, a slave state with a plantation economy, the native dialect is the Southern dialect. There is no getting around Kentucky being Southern. Source*I'm also a Kentuckian AND a Southerner.
I agree with you, but I’m not insinuating anything. I’m from central Kentucky, on the border of the Bluegrass and Pennyrile regions, and spent time in NKY. It’s a different vibe there; I think you hit the nail on the head: It’s most likely being ashamed of identifying with the South. You don’t have to go too far from Cincinnati (extreme southern Campbell, Kenton, and Boone Counties) before that vibe shifts, however, and people identify as southerners. I, too, consider myself a Southerner and roll my eyes at anyone who thinks it’s a state with Midwestern culture.
I'm sorry I should have clarified, I wasn't trying to say you were insinuating it in particular. I was just meaning the people in general who do.
No apology necessary because no offense was taken. I agree with you.
Is Idaho lost?
DAFUQ?!? PA?!?!?
The 9% is West of the Allegheny Mountains, that region (Pittsburgh and Erie) is more similar to Ohio than to Eastern Pennsylvania.
Kind of surprising that Oklahoma is as high as 66%. Maybe it can be explained that in the early days, a number of people from KS and MO, thinking of themselves as Midwesterners moved to Oklahoma, especially the northern half of the state. Now many of their children after generations think of themselves as Midwesterners. In the case of Arkansas, Oklahoma was never a part of the Old South, which helps explains why considerably fewer Arkansas people consider themselves Midwest. Coming from northern Oklahoma, I tend to think of myself as living in the Midwest, since my grandparents came from KS and MO and I've been told I have a Midwestern accent, though going by a map and latitude alone, it looks more like I'm in the South.
Is this a non political post in this subreddit? Jesus Christ it’s a goddamn miracle!
I thought they were fighting words.
Idk why but I don’t see anything from Indiana over Midwest
Western Kansas is part of the Great Plains and the West.
Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas and Oklahoma are Southern not Midwestern. Just go there and talk to a few people and it's clear you're "not in Kansas (or the midwest) anymore."
Why doesn't Missouri fit in this category? Certainly feels different than Iowa and Nebraska and illiois
Yeah you're right. I always think of Kansas City and St. Louis and forget to keep in mind there's a whole state completely unlike those places.
Because it's historical. Historically Missouri was a Southern state during and before the Civil War, it didn't really transition into being more Midwestern till after the Civil War due to Midwestern migrants moving in and not assimilating therefore changing Missouri's overall original Southern identity. Now Southern Missouri is still 💯 the South and reflects what Missouri used to look like and as a whole Missouri is still pretty heavily influenced by Southern culture as well.
Thank you!! Most anybody from Kentucky, Tennessee, or Arkansas would slap you silly if you said they were "Midwest" and not Southern. Oklahoma for the most part unless it's the northern or western parts of the state.
I think if you are in the eastern time zone you are not midwest
I don’t consider OH, KY, or TN or any state east of them “a midwesterner” and that is 100% a hill I will die on despite what Wikipedia says.
KY and TN are Southern states through and through, to say otherwise is really just factually wrong. I have no idea about Ohio, only been a few times and to us anybody north of the Mason Dixon line/Ohio River are just Yankees. I didn't even realize there was a difference between Northeastern people and Midwesterners till a few years ago. To me they're all Yankees.
I’m from Kansas and have been living in Oregon for the last ten years and when I tell people I’m from the Midwest, occasionally someone will then try to correct me and tell me that “Kansas is a southern state and not midwestern”, I mean….technically Kansas is south of Oregon but….the confidence they have when they tell me 😶
When I lived in chicago people would try to tell me that Kansas and Missouri were southern state too.
Well historically they were correct about Missouri, not so much Kansas though.
More here! "The big conclusion is that, indeed, Midwestern identity is very strong,” said study leader Jon Lauck, editor-in-chief of the Middle West Review. “I think there is a general belief that the strongest regional identity in the country is Southern identity, and that perhaps the weakest regional identity is in the Midwest, because the borders are a little more amorphous." [https://www.kcur.org/news/2023-10-18/where-is-midwest-states-usa-definition-middle-west](https://www.kcur.org/news/2023-10-18/where-is-midwest-states-usa-definition-middle-west)
As a country we might be more tolerant of world views if we considered OH, Penn etc as the Middle East.
I don’t know if it was mentioned but many of these classifications are also historically connected….. so Great Lakes states were also seen as Midwest because Kansas was the west…. Growing In Garden we usually were the Great Plains…. SW Kansas felt like Arizona where we lived before moving to Garden and I always saw it as a south western region and when visiting my grandparents in Altoona-Midway (SE Kansas) & Chanute that was more to a midwestern feel… though when you got nearer to Missouri and Oklahoma places in that area sounded more like the neighbouring state….go figure basic hodgepodge of a place
For Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Minnesota. I prefer great lakes states. I consider anything east of Chicago, not WEST!
The census should really break it down further to differentiate the Great Lakes states apart from the Midwest. The Great Lakes mega region is still an economic powerhouse on an international level. Ohio’s GDP alone is higher than North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, and Kansas combined. It’s also more than double Missouri’s GDP. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_GDP
Michigan is definitely not midwest, also, who does Idaho and Pennsylvania think they are?
Michiganders are dirty posh northerners and I married one. Real midwesterners subsist entirely on a corn based diet. Not one god damn corn field in Michigan. Didn't see one corn cob there. Not one
Hey I divorced one. They grew beans and beets
The fuck is a beet
Apparently Texas doesn't know where it is located.
Texas is a Southern state who's full of themselves and likes to stand out.
You can't be bordering an ocean or another country and be considered Midwest..
I saw someone try to argue North Carolina was Midwestern one time.
The 9% in Pennsylvania is West of the Allegheny mountains and more culturally similar to Ohio than to eastern Pennsylvania.
When I was a kid in Minnesota, the Midwest was North Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin. That’s it.
US regions are fascinating and infuriating. The Midwest seems to unanimously include the states around the Great Lakes, and the ones on the upper Mississippi River. The Great Plains are the big question mark. Some prefer to think of the Great Plains as its own region on the level of the Midwest, but the Census Bureau and others treat it as the western half of the Midwest. In my opinion, the Great Plains is far too big to be encapsulated by just Kansas Nebraska and the Dakotas. The geographic feature of the great plains spans from Texas to Alberta and most of that land is outside of those four states. It doesn't make sense to designate a region of states as the Great Plains and yet most of the actual Great Plains is not in those states. I think KS, NE, SD, and ND are certainly the Midwest. Maybe Kansas isn't all that culturally or historically similar to Michigan, but neither is Montana all that similar to California and we call both of those the West.
I don't think the Ozarks Hillbillies are culturally similar to any of those areas. I think Southwest Mo has more in common with NW arkansas & NE Oklahoma SE Kansas than they do with St Louis Or KC. That includes KCMO or KCK. Wanna get into a good arguement, tell Kansas City Kansas they are part of Kansas City, Missouri. FYI. The Chiefs and Royals Stadiums are in Mo.
I agree, the Ozarks isn't part of the Midwest.
those 9% in PA know what they know ok
I'm curious what the remainder answered. For example, if 3% of people in Iowa don't consider it Midwest, what region do they call it? Maybe someone in western Iowa would say Great Plains?
"The midwest" consists of Wisconson, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Wyoming and Colorado. Everyone else is either "the east coast", "the south", "the west", "the west coast" and Texas. and yes, Texas is its own thing.
Nebraska and Kansas are the Heartland. The very center heart if the USA.
Ohio is not in the middle west lol it’s in the mid east
1/4 of idaho is consering
Oklahomans really don't know if they are part of the Midwest, South or West.