What states do you consider to be part of the Midwest?

the great plains are a helpful contributor to everything between chicago and the west coast being pretty boring imo.

newshour claims those as plains states, btw

that drive is just....damn.

no i think "the midwest" you hear about in the news as a broad general category includes the plains states xposst

parts of KY are distinctively southern but then you have to realize that Cincinatti is less than a 90 minute drive from either Louisville or Lexington....

I think the same dual-identity could be applied to Missouri. KC vs. STL vs Springfield... all radically different cities and culture.

every non-coastal state that is not part of the South or Southwest

ohio
indiana
illinois
missouri
kansas
nebraska
wisconsin
michigan
minnesota
wyoming
iowa
colorado
n dakota
s dakota
idaho
montana

yeah ohio has like 4 different types of states within it too

yea midwest encompasses the plains states. u can be a midwestern state but not a plains state, but all plains states are midwest (i'm not counting western states that have plains as 'plains states' tho)

great lakes is a region too - minnesota, wisconsin, illinois, indiana, michigan, ohio, PA, western NY

sarahel you cannot be serious with that

wherever R. Kelly and Nelly be at

i've heard buffalo lumped in as a midwestern city which is totally ??? except for the accent.

sarahel's definition actually seems kind of rational and consistent, but I'm not sure that such things have much to do with how regions are perceived.

ohio and indiana are wild cards -- they're not not midwestern but i tend to lump them in with the rust belt northeast.

yeah, I've heard Pittsburgh referred to as a midwestern state, which kind of makes sense...Buffalo and Pittsburgh might have more in common with e.g. Cleveland than they do with Philly or NYC

(xpost) same with buffalo really -- it's rust belt northeast but the case for spiritual midwesternness could be made.

xp harbl: yeah, you're right, i'm kidding. Maybe I should've been more obvious about it and said, "The Midwest is everything east of I5 until you hit the East Coast."

http://www.overmorgen.com/weblog/files/2009/01/09/nine_nations_of_north_america.gif

the only midwest states are the states with big ten schools. shit, except for pennsylvania.

western 2/3 of penn are basically midwest imo

clinging to their guns and religion

core states are: indiana, michigan, ohio, wisconsin, illinois, minnesota

iowa is a toss up b/w midwest & plains (mostly plains)

missouri is a weird mutant hybrid of midwest, plains & south

This is blowing my mind. To me, Iowa was always the very definition of Midwest.

indiana, michigan, ohio, wisconsin, illinois, minnesota, iowa.

The rule: Midwestern states are the ones which were free states during the Civil War and which don't have a border with the Atlantic or Pacific. Except Vermont, which is obviously not Midwestern (but which is, I would say the most Midwestern of the NE states.)

And except Kansas. But again, I'd say Kansas is MORE Midwestern than Missouri, Kentucky, Nebraska....

J0rdan, where do native Missourians categorize mo?

I lived there from age 3-22, and I always thought of it as midwest.

a co-worker who kept saying that the Midwest ended at Illinois

the correct response to this assertion is WISCONSIN

I mean, how are you gonna draw a line on that one

I guess I think The Midwest as that aggregate of states which are (A) east of the Mississippi (Minnesota excepted); (B) north of the Mason-Dixon; (C) composed of a diversity of geological features: lakes, forests, plains, hills, wetlands etc.; & (D) straddled economically b/w industry & agriculture.

yea seriously xp - there are a few states that are no-bullshit midwestern states. imo these are: wisconsin, minnesota, illinois, iowa, indiana (have any deniers ever been to bloomington ffs?), ohio, and michigan. i'd even throw in missouri into that

not saying that is the correct definition, mind - just the way I've always personally sorted them.

As an Oregonian, I have given the matter very little thought. To a native of the west coast, large tracts of the country are simply "back east".

I would obviously exclude all the eastern seaboard states, new england, the old south and the border south states like kentucky and tennessee. The west proper starts with any state containing the continental divide.

Missouri is an odd duck that is very hard to place. Pennsylvania is equally an odd duck, but is too far east for me to feel comfortable tagging it midewestern. Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin try to set themselves apart as the old Northwest, but I'm not fooled a bit. They are middle west by affinity as well as by geography.

OTH, Oklahoma doesn't fit at all with the likes of Iowa, Kansas or Nebraska, so it absolutely cannot be midwestern for that reason alone.

you guys, regions aren't mutually exclusive, and regional boundaries can overlap state boundaries ok. life is too short for your rigid geographical constructs, free ur minds~

Yeah... maybe... but answer the question, yuh big galoot. We'll all judge just how free ur mind really is when we see what it produces.

As a native Missourian (lived in St. Louis the first 18 years of my life), I can definitely say Missouri is the midwest.

This is blowing my mind. To me, Iowa was always the very definition of Midwest.

Yes. It is the belly of the Midwest. Even other Midwestern states look at it and go "whoa y'all are some bland fat corn eating motherfuckers".

Here is how this shit breaks down in my mind:

http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/5561/unitedstatesmapq.gif

native missourians SWEAR that missouri is not part of the midwest

are these bootheelers or something? i mean, basically everyone in my family is a native missourian, and they'd think this assertion was pretty weird.

imo:
ohio
indiana
michigan
illinois
wisconsin
missouri
iowa
minnesota
kansas
nebraska
south dakota
sort of unsure about north dakota, but i guess i'd include it too

midwestern also works as a regional designation like appalachian rather than a group of states. sort of like the more or less flatlands west of the appalachians that were settled by people moving west from new england/hudson valley via the erie canal corridor and by people from the mid atlantic going through pennsylvania.

made yall a map

http://i35.tinypic.com/2wcg0tc.gif

Growing up in Kentucky it was quite apparent that it had an identity crisis about whether or not it was Southern or Midwestern. My Alabama cousins always called me a Yankee for coming from Kentucky, but the difference culturally between KY and Ohio seemed pretty apparent too. We got our own thang.

Oh, and MD is not whatever so fuck you. Baltimore pwns.

its just like get an identity is all

these maps are hilar but new york is not new england!!

new york fits well enough in new england - its delaware and maryland where the problem is

European over here so take with pinch of salt but in my mind I'd always had it down as something like

Ohio
Indiana
Illinois
Michigan
Wisconsin
Minnesota
Iowa
The Dakotas
Nebraska
Kansas
Missouri

and the great plains and great lakes regions as somehow 2 constituent parts of the midwest (and western rustbelt as maybe a 3rd subpart of it). But somehow I think of the western parts of the dakotas and kansas and I guess Nebraska as sorta different again but can't articulate why. Western Pennsylvania I can't decide about

uh that was a mistake there about "western" rustbelt - I meant the Cleveland/Pittsburgh/Youngstown(?) kind of area (So i guess western PA)

Separating Pittsburgh and Buffalo from Cleveland, Chicago, Detroit and Milwaukee seems wrong somehow. Ever notice that the Buffalo accent is almost the exact same as a Chicago one?

a lot of upstate new york accents are like that -- big polish/german influence.

western pennsylvania is not the midwest

ohio and indiana are wild cards -- they're not not midwestern but i tend to lump them in with the rust belt northeast.

JBR, I don't understand this???? How are they NOT Midwestern? If rustbelt-ness takes precedence over Midwesterness, then half of Michigan is gone that way too!

chicago accent is similar to new yorker accent but with an "oh hey dere" nordic upper midwest influence.

when I moved to Wisconsin my mom the native Minnesotan was so delighted about my decision to relocate to the midwest that she got me a subscription to Midwest Living magazine. and, every month, packed in there with the hottest new casserole recipes and discounts on the trendiest bed and breakfasts is a DEFINITIVE LIST of the states the magazine covers. they are: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.

Deep South too big. You need some sort of Delta region in there too.

I get that this is a "Cultural" map, but c'mon. Sallisaw, Oklahoma, ain't the Deep South.

listen everybody, i did the best i could on this map

i'm open to feedback but let's keep it constructive

after 2 years, the washington post study we commissioned is finally done! here are the results:

https://i.imgur.com/tht9XVl.png

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/07/29/airbnb-the-most-midwestern-things/

additionally, the team at the post was able to come up with the definitive list, so there should be no need for any more disagreement on this subject until new states are added or subtracted to the united states

Note: The 12 Midwestern states are Iowa, Indiana, Wisconsin, North Dakota, Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio and South Dakota

Finally, all of these states have been ranked by midwesterness. sorry South Dakota, you have been relegated, and Ohio you are *this* close to getting the boot:

https://i.imgur.com/6h0NjG3.png

that's right

I question the methodology of that last list. Notice that it’s the states with bigger cities that place nearer the bottom of the list. Maybe if you’re listing an Airbnb in a place like Detroit or Chicago or Cleveland you don’t have to add the descriptor “Midwest” bc everyone knows what those places are like. Also the Midwesternness of those areas is not in question, whereas a more borderline case like some town in Iowa, which is not obviously Midwestern, would call for “Midwest” in the listing to sort of suggest to renters what they’re getting into.

You'll never convince me that Iowa's Midwestern status is a "borderline case."

https://i.imgur.com/FKkonnE.png

xp I would make the same case, Josefa. Nobody in even southern Minnesota is going to post about Midwestern ambience, it'll be about lakes, fishing, or proximity to Minneapolis. And the vast majority in Illinois are in Chicago and they'd mention local amenities

also Iowa is insanely midwestern, what are you talking about

I've previously mentioned my corn index for Midwesterness (you can argue historical standards and the midwesterness of the rust belt as alternatives) but imo the more corn planted, the more midwestern. So you get Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, eastern Nebraska, etc etc

not-xp: corn sweat is real, 38% humidity today and 100 degrees outside

Pretty sure these points are made in the article itself iirc

38% humidity today

OH POOR YOU.

In my state, the humidity is so high that the air smells like corn sweat ... and we don't have any corn.

More like soybean sweat.

the humidity wasn't terrible, the 100 degrees on top of it was a bit more irritating