Do you agree with the Census Bureau's region classifications?

[Docere]

Philadelphia is obviously a different world from Ohio. But only a third of the state lives in the Philadelphia region. It does not dominate the way NYC dominates NYS or Chicago dominates Illinois.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by 3rd&Brown

This is so exhausting. Pennsylvania is decidedly Mid-Atlantic. It has very little in common with Ohio at this point and seems to diverge more every year. It's its own thing.

Pennsylvania is one of a handful of "straddles regions" states. Erie and Pittsburgh don't feel more like Boston than they do Ohio.

[chris08876]

Eastern PA is the powerhouse of the state. Lehigh Valley, suburbs of Philly, counties bordering NJ. PA is huge but you'll find it starts to get bleak once you head West. Small island of Pittsburg but even so, lacks the wage power of the East. Lehigh Valley has higher wages than the Pittsburg region and growth wise, expanding by the day.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by chris08876

Eastern PA is the powerhouse of the state. Lehigh Valley, suburbs of Philly, counties bordering NJ. PA is huge but you'll find it starts to get bleak once you head West. Small island of Pittsburg but even so, lacks the wage power of the East. Lehigh Valley has higher wages than the Pittsburg region and growth wise, expanding by the day.

Northeast PA still has Appalachian cues that aren't foreign to southeast Ohio, IMO.

[UrbanRevival]

Originally Posted by Docere

Philadelphia is obviously a different world from Ohio. But only a third of the state lives in the Philadelphia region. It does not dominate the way NYC dominates NYS or Chicago dominates Illinois.

The Philly area doesn't dominate specifically, but the trend is decidedly moving quickly in that direction. It doesn't take much understanding of Census data to see how the Philly area, the Lehigh Valley and South-Central PA have collectively emerged as Pennsylvania's cultural and economic epicenter.

As it's been noted in prior posts, essentially 70% of Pennsylvania lives in around one-third of the state's land area south and east of its rugged central and northern portions. It's absolutely much more concentrated than Ohio in that regard, and in the part of the state furthest removed from Ohio.

[UrbanRevival]

Originally Posted by lio45

Pennsylvania is one of a handful of "straddles regions" states. Erie and Pittsburgh don't feel more like Boston than they do Ohio.

Interior Northeast =/= Midwest, however. There is a distinction. Obviously there's the "Rust Belt" overlay, but in historical, economic, topographical, and demographic terms, that's where the similarities end.

[edale]

Penn State is a Big 10 school. The Steelers are in a division with 2 Ohio teams. Ohio and Pennsylvania share Lake Erie. Cincinnati actually grew to be a large city earlier than Pittsburgh, and both sit on the Ohio River have similar vernacular architecture. Cleveland/Youngstown have very similar economic histories and industries as Pittsburgh. NE Ohio and Western PA have the same concentrations of Slavics/Eastern Europeans and Italians. I don't think it's controversial to say Ohio and Western Pennsylvania are pretty similar. I think the real take away from this conversation is Pennsylvania is a very divided state, with Western PA having little in common with the Eastern side of the state.

[Docere]

Regions tend to blend into each other. So while it does make sense to classify Pennsylvania with the Northeast and Ohio with the Midwest, it's really not surprising that Pennsylvania and Ohio have more in common with each other than Pennsylvania does with Massachusetts or Ohio with Nebraska.