Regional identity

[Docere]

It seems like the areas with the strongest regional identities are New England and the South. New England identity may be stronger than state identity. In the South, there's a strong regional identity but it's a very large region with varying degrees of Southern-ness. 40% of the population in the South lives in Texas and Florida. Texas has its own identity that's almost certainly stronger than "Southerner" and Florida is kind of its own thing.

Another area that may have a strong regional identity is the Pacific Northwest.

In the Midwest, majorities in all states would agree they live in the Midwest but I don't think there's really a strong regional identity. I don't think Minnesotans and Ohioans, say, see themselves as sharing a regional culture.

[JManc]

Louisiana has a strong state identity.

[Docere]

Originally Posted by JManc

Louisiana has a strong state identity.

It's very much a cultural region different from the core South.

ETA: More accurately, North Louisiana = Deep South, South Louisiana = its own thing

[iheartthed]

Southerners are really the only ones that use their region as a cultural identifier, and even that will probably die out within 1 or 2 more generations. The opposite of "southern" has historically been a "yankee", which includes all of the northeast and the upper Midwest. But I think most of us reading this have never heard that used in everyday conversation. We're more likely to hear Brits calling us yankees as Americans.

[Crawford]

New England has a strong identity? I never got that feeling. The South, sure.

[aufbau]

Originally Posted by Crawford

New England has a strong identity? I never got that feeling. The South, sure.

Maybe diluted in metro Boston and closer in to NYC but there absolutely is a regional identity. Or maybe sensibility is a more precise word. I lived in rural northern new england town for a while (a real townie town, not resort or rural gentrified place) and you could certainly feel the identity there.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by aufbau

In the townie parts of Boston and points farther away from NYC and beyond, there absolutely is a regional identity. Or maybe sensibility is a more precise word.

I'd say that's a strong Boston regional identity, not a pan New England identity. Maine doesn't have a strong cultural connection to Connecticut, as opposed to say, Long Island.

I'm not saying there isn't a strong local character, BTW. There certainly is, in such a rooted place. I just don't think there's some specific cultural bond limited to those states. The Hudson Valley isn't New England, but it's similarly rooted. It's more of a common Eastern seaboard, looking more towards Europe, general gestalt, IMO.

[Steely Dan]

from my experiences of living in, and traveling all over, the midwest for the past 5 decades, individual city/state identities seem to absolutely trounce any kind of broader regional identity in the midwest, to the extent that such exists.

[Docere]

Originally Posted by aufbau

Maybe diluted in metro Boston and closer in to NYC but there absolutely is a regional identity. Or maybe sensibility is a more precise word. I lived in rural northern new england town for a while (a real townie town, not resort or rural gentrified place) and you could certainly feel the identity there.

Well if New England identity is diluted in Boston than New England identity can't be very strong at all. It's the largest city by far; one-third of New England's population lives in the Boston metro area. And Boston screams New England to me (Harvard, the "Athens of America", huge Irish population, leafy suburbs that go back to colonial times etc.) That's as much New England in my view as a lighthouse in a quaint village in Maine.

[ColDayMan]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

from my experiences of living in, and traveling all over, the midwest for the past 5 decades, individual city/state identities seem to absolutely trounce any kind of broader regional identity in the midwest, to the extent that such exists.

Agreed. Ohio can't even agree on itself (we border the South, Midwest, Northeast, Appalachia, and Canada) as there are five sub-states within itself and all think each other as "different" let alone a concept of a broader "Midwest."

I agree the South, followed by New England, have the strongest regional identities. The West can be strange as I've heard some folks from California call Denver "back east." Or is Las Vegas "West Coast?" Hell, is Philadelphia "East Coast" even though their coast is...Camden?

This country is strange.

[JManc]

New England definitely has a strong identity. It's not in your face like southerners or Texans but it's there.

Originally Posted by Docere

It's very much a cultural region different from the core South.

ETA: More accurately, North Louisiana = Deep South, South Louisiana = its own thing

The two areas are culturally different but pretty much everyone is pretty strongly connected to the common identity; LSU, fleur-de-lis, Saints, the food, etc. I had an ex-g/f from Monroe (basically southern Arkansas) and she was 100% Louisiana first, southerner second. She just didn't sound like Adam Sandler from Waterboy.

[Docere]

Originally Posted by ColDayMan

The West can be strange as I've heard some folks from California call Denver "back east."

It is indeed strange to think of the Great Plains and the Rockies as "the east" but I guess it's all relative. Denver is east of the continental divide.

[Docere]

I don't think the Census Bureau nine divisions mean anything to people really (except New England) but it does split the South into three: South Atlantic, East South Central and West South Central.

South Atlantic is huge and includes everything from Delaware, Maryland and West Virginia to Florida.

East South Central is the most "purely" southern division.

West South Central meanwhile includes areas that deviate from the core South such as Cajun Louisiana, outsized Texas, and Oklahoma (former Indian Territory).

[Quixote]

I'd say Greater NYC — especially NYC, Long Island, North/Central Jersey, the southern Hudson Valley, and perhaps Fairfield County — has a strong regional identity. Northern Bergen and southern Westchester have very similar demographics, while Westchester's development patterns bleed into Fairfield. The North Jerseyan might be brimming with state pride and the person from Fairfield might identify as a New Englander, but I think their proximity to NYC supersedes state identity. For someone from North Jersey, South Jersey might as well be Delaware. And the culture of Fairfield is quite different from points farther east along Long Island Sound.

[craigs]

There is definitely a regional identity in rural New England.

[Docere]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

from my experiences of living in, and traveling all over, the midwest for the past 5 decades, individual city/state identities seem to absolutely trounce any kind of broader regional identity in the midwest, to the extent that such exists.

I imagine Illinoisians don't have a strong state identity really.

[Shawn]

I'll give Crawford that Presque Isle and Norwalk don't exactly scream a uniform, shared New England identity. But I'd add that anything west of the Connecticut River in Connecticut is suspect to begin with. Any place where Yankees caps are on parity with or outnumber Sox caps cannot be New England, by definition. And yes, that does mean Boston University's campus is technically not in New England.

You basically have 3 subcultures in New England: Coastal, Inland, and Fairfield Connecticut. All three share most cultural norms more than they share with any other American region, although the New York part of CT shares the least. Coastal Rhode Island and Coastal Maine - especially the working fishing towns - are substantially similar. The Berkshires, the Green Mountains, the White Mountains, and Aroostook are all substantially similar.

Boston, despite being on the coast, is the hub connecting all the Coastal and Inland spokes.

It's not nearly as common as Irish, Italian, Portuguese, Acadian, or the Betsy Ross flags, but you will see the Dominion of New England flag fly outside houses, especially in the more rural Inland areas:

[Shawn]

New England has about 15 million people; about 2/3 of that lives under two hours from Boston. New Hampshire's geographical population center is in Pembroke, just an hour north of Boston and under 40 miles from the MA/NH line. Maine's geographical population center is Chelsea, just outside Portland (also under 2 hours with decent traffic). About 50% of Maine lives within 50 miles of the Massachusetts border, not the New Hampshire border. Nowhere in Rhode Island sans Block Island is more than an hour and a half from the Massachusetts State House in Beacon Hill.

Burlington is the outlier in this regard.

[TempleGuy1000]

Originally Posted by ColDayMan

Hell, is Philadelphia "East Coast" even though their coast is...Camden?

This country is strange.

I always find this sort of comment interesting. No, Philadelphia is not directly on the coast, but the river is tidal with the ocean, the port is a seaport where panamax ships import goods and seagulls hangout and squawk in the parking lots. If Philadelphia wasn't close to the coast, it would not have been one of the first places settled in America. And there's a train that literally drops you off on the beach

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by Docere

I imagine Illinoisians don't have a strong state identity really.

Not really.

Too many centuries of resentment and distrust.