It's 100% unarguably established that regions don't have to always be made of entire states.

Example 1) NY State has parts that are "Great Lakes/Rust Belt" and parts that aren't.

(Lake Erie/Ontario waterfront, vs the eastern tip of Long Island)

Example 2) Texas has parts that are "Southern" and parts that are "The Southwest".

(The bayou area of East Texas near the Louisiana border, vs El Paso)

Similarly, the Inland Empire of Southern California is not forced to be in the same region as the Oregon border of the state.

Terrible Spanish translation skills aside, my larger point is the Bay Area is greener than the Southland, and by that I mean it has higher annual rainfall totals and is moistened by summer fog, which combined support the region's many native wetlands, grasslands, redwood forests and mixed woodlands.

How else are we supposed to define "green?" Manicured suburban lawns?

Sunbelt seems like a vague mix of weather, employment patterns, growth levels and development.

I haven't seen much mention of them here but I still think of Salt Lake City and Denver (one of the sunniest cities in the US) as sunbelt cities.

Hell, even Boise seems to have more in common with Phoenix or Albuquerque than Nashville or Atlanta does.

Why do we do this to ourselves? lol

New Orleans, no. Birmingham, not really. Columbia, yeah I'd say it's Sunbelt.

The definition of the sunbelt I've always heard was basically southern California, across the southwest and the south. If that's changed I wasn't aware of it.

Ok guys. When I came back I didn't expect a 5 pages long debate about what the definition of what the sunbelt is. So I've reworded my initial post. Hope that simplifies things a bit and keeps things on topic. Thanks.

LA is Sun Belt. The Bay is mostly Sun Belt.

You should know your name is sunbelt....duh.

Although I don’t think it’s a real region.

The map is ok, but I would include OKC and RDU in the Sun Belt.

I had the opposite experience - on my first visit to San Jose I was shocked by the Sunbelty architecture, layout, feel, etc. of the place, for my NorCal expectations.

A place named "Sunnyvale" can't be anywhere but Sunbelt.

I never thought of "sunbelt" as a specific geographic region but rather a cluster of cities that shared common characteristics such as rather sunny and warm weather, explosive post-war growth, and a destination for retirees. As others have pointed out, they're lots of cities in the sunbelt "region" such as Jackson, MS or Montgomery no one would consider sun belt so I'm not sure arguing over geographic characteristics makes sense. And if we were, than we'd definitely want to include places like St. George, Denver, Yuma- i.e., the sunniest places in the US.

these boys would disagree.

https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca88...d1vGrkXfSJ0l1w
source: https://www.deviantart.com/imaginash...-PS4-420646788
source:

Perhaps sun belt just refers to large cities that came to prominence in the post war period built more to accommodate cars.

It was affordable suburban area back in the day. My uncle moved to Sunnyvale in the 50's and probably paid the same for his modest 3 bedroom ranch as he would have in Upstate NY. That house went on the market for $2.1 million a few years ago.

yeah, i mean if we are going down that slippery slope, kansas city is sunnier than atlanta, nashville, etc... hell st. louis is sunnier than nashville...https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunshine_duration

Ok. I stand corrected. I really didn't know that the Bay area was included.

Corners of the Sunbelt;
Raleigh
Miami (not for much longer)
Phoenix
Las Vegas/Salt Lake City

It would include Denver and Nashville.
California stopped being Sunbelt in 2010.

California stopped being Sunbelt in 2010...huh?! :???:

I forgot about that monumental moment in California history. The Sun Belt just ends at the Colorado River.

Also a big "huh?!" :???: to excluding New Orleans and Miami and whatever else somebody thinks should be excluded.

It's all included in the Greater Sun Belt Region, even slow growth 'Bama and Mississippi.

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Question] Is Reno Sun Belt? It's sunny, sunnier than Atlanta, but it's frigid up there. If it is Sun Belt, then SLC and Denver most certainly are as well.

My wife grew up in Sunnyvale in the 90s. By 93 Sunnyvale was already approaching unaffordable for most. Last time we visited South Bay in 2016, we drove by her old house and Zillowed it for fun; the 4 bedroom 2.5 bath late 70s split level had been sold that year for $3.3 million.