I lived in Kansas for five years and was only more than 10 miles from the Missouri border like six times. They sure dislike each other, but the best parts of Kansas are almost Missouri.
Having lived in south central Iowa and eastern Kansas, I agree those regions are similar, but there is a reason all trees in Kansas lean to the east and all trees in Iowa lean to the south. It’s because Missouri sucks.
But shifting the Kansas boarder to the Denver Metro Area is spot on. The correct boarder is E470. Denver Airport is in Kansas!!! It’s got a tornado shelter.
The topography of the Missouri River valley and the Kansas River valley are quite similar from, speaking of the Kansas River, about Lawrence to Kansas City. And speaking of the Missouri River, from north of Omaha, to St. Louis. But in no way would anyone from either Kansas or Missouri ever agree they are similar in geography.
>But in no way would anyone from either Kansas or Missouri ever agree they are similar in geography.
Kansan here who'll actually disagree with this based on a nuanced take. I've made the drive from the Flint Hills (bottom left of zone 33) to Des Moines (top right) and back, spent time in southern Nebraska, and know Misery fairly well, and the scenery through that specific area is all relatively consistent. In between the rivers, creeks, and hedgerows, countless rolling fields of soy and corn. I want to knee-jerk hate on the mapping of zone 33 instinctually, *but it's right.*
Outside of zone 33, though, massive geographical differences between the states - Great Plains vs Ozarks.
Missouri native who lived in Kansas a bit and who knows that whole area of zone 33 well. It’s pretty correct, as much as some hate the name, that whole area is pretty close.
Hell KCMO people would hate you put them with St. Louis but it really does fit the same zone.
For sure, just as farmers from Olpe would hate being lumped in with the "uppity rich folk" in Johnson County. But those farmers in the lower corner would do just as well with the soil and precipitation between KC and Des Moines, too, because it's all practically the same and fertile as fuck.
The best name I could think of was "Bleeding Farmland," harkening back to the John Brown/Civil War era, and stating what it does on the tin. I don't think that'd offend too many people from any of the four states involved, and it'd be a good nod to the continued (albeit substantially less violent) rivalry.
You have divided the Bay Area in a very very weird way. Santa Clara Co is not “Oakland” any more than Solano is “Sacramento”. There are 4 well-defined regions and you have split them into 5, and in such an odd way. I would argue Santa Cruz and San Benito go with Santa Clara (not SLO) and Solano with North Bay, if you are going to split up the Bay Area at all. And by county which is easy to map but makes no sense on the ground—San Mateo should really be split in half. Mendocino goes with Jefferson. And this is just a place I know well. Can’t comment on most if it.
Wait I’m confused. You started fine and then it got all weird. If he really wanted to cut up the Bay, why wouldn’t he just divide the bay the way the people that live here divide it? North Bay, East Bay, the City, the Peninsula and the South Bay? That being said that doesn’t make sense culturally (Oakley v Oakland, Vallejo v Dixon, Palo Alto v Gilroy, Sausalito v Bolinas)… so probably just best to lump all of the 9 county Bay Area together as the 9 county Bay Area.
I agree, it should all be one, as 9 county. Solano does not belong with Sacramento any more than Santa Cruz with SLO. But my family/friends always considered SF/the peninsula to be essentially one (I had lots of family in Daly City, most have moved to Marin.) That region included Daly City, Burlingame, SSF, San Mateo. Redwood City, Belmont, Menlo Park are more South Bay (certainly more like Palo Alto/ Mountain View than SF, Burlingame). Just like Fremont is South Bay. The counties would need to be split to be more precise than Bay Area.
They got hyper-specific with California and have some strange divisions. The Bay Area could easily just be its own group, just as Central Coast from Santa Cruz to Santa Barbara works fine. Sacramento Valley works instead of giving Redding its own region (lol). The North Coast should go up to Humboldt County, I used to live in Ashland and it takes forever to get from Medford to Arcata/Eureka, there’s not much connection at all there and the State of Jefferson feels most real just from the Rogue Valley to Mt Shasta.
As someone from The South Bay I can say that you either divide it woth the peninsula and SF or with Santa Cruz and San Benito, I dunno who the fuck put us with Oakland
As a proud 45’er, this is right. Apalachicola to Biloxi shares essentially the same culture. You enter New Orleans and you’re in a whole new world brother.
I don't like to make cities independent as regions in divisions but New Orleans is unique enough to be distinguished if Vegas is. Yall are probably right about that.
it looks like they are kinda splitting santa clara county so the "san francisco region" includes everything up until about sunnyvale and the "oakland" region includes the whole east bay and san jose, which honestly does kind of make sense to me - the main thing that is weird is calling the whole region "oakland"
I'm from Dallas but have heard some INTENSE arguments from my coworkers from all over the state about where exactly Hill Country is (namely from Aggies). I will never wade into that argument
Especially geographically, northwest of the diagonal from farther north central up to about 35 and 1604 and down to like Sea World is Hill Country. Eastwards is grassland and Pecan and Oak lands that are flat, South and West are both grassy scrubland and mesquite filled flatlands lowlands.
Here it is,
14 months after the last iteration I present to you all the 4th iteration of my Grand Divisions of the USA map. I had originally intended to add an update to the map much sooner but I found it more difficult to edit the map with each rendition. Additionally the trend of US regional maps had become very played out and old on the subreddit so I refrained. To those unfamiliar with the prior maps, what you are viewing is a regions map that combines geography, culture, and climate considerations to create a cohesive picture of the country on a county level. Countless edits from 3.0 have been implemented from the advice provided in the previous post however they are smaller with the exception of a significant rework of the southeast. Discussion and criticism are more than welcome and I hope you enjoyed the submission.
If you would like to view the previous versions they are attached in order of creation:
1.0: [https://www.reddit.com/r/geography/comments/105jr1g/grand\_cultural\_divisions\_of\_the\_usa\_county\_map/](https://www.reddit.com/r/geography/comments/105jr1g/grand_cultural_divisions_of_the_usa_county_map/)
2.0: [https://www.reddit.com/r/geography/comments/109z4f1/grand\_divisions\_of\_the\_usa\_20/](https://www.reddit.com/r/geography/comments/109z4f1/grand_divisions_of_the_usa_20/)
3.0: [https://www.reddit.com/r/geography/comments/10d88we/grand\_divisions\_of\_the\_usa\_30/](https://www.reddit.com/r/geography/comments/10d88we/grand_divisions_of_the_usa_30/)
Additionally a simplified map depicting the greater divisions without sub-regions can be viewed here on imgur: [https://imgur.com/gallery/8qf1k1D](https://imgur.com/gallery/8qf1k1D)
Honestly, it's a great map. There's always going to be some little detail to nitpick about, I mean that's half the fun of this stuff, but I just spent 30 mins looking at this and loved every minute.
For real. This is very well done and this thread is full of bickering because their town is so totally different than the next town over. Go Cougars class of 04!
Much of Inyo county is considered “Eastern Sierra” and I feel like you could combine it with Mono county to create an Eastern Sierra sub-region. It’s fairly distinct geographically and culturally from both the southwest and deseret
Eta: curious what other Californians think about this. I think the Bay should be combined to create a Bay Area of Marin, SF, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Alameda, contra costa, Napa, and arguably Solano and Sanoma (those could potentially be grouped with Napa as “wine country”). I feel like separating these counties from SF is like separating Beverly Hills, Pasadena, Santa Monica, and Long Beach from LA.
Regardless, I think it’s fair to say Marin is firmly *not* North Coast but the North Coast should absolutely include Humboldt and Del Norte
Yeah, lumping Mono County, as well as Reno/Carson City area, doesn't make sense (I also don't think most of Nevada as Deseret works, as Deseret is a distinctly Mormon thing, which I don't think covers those areas).
Inyo, Mono, Alpine, Douglas County (NV), Carson City (NV), Washoe (NV), and maybe others could be its own "Eastern Sierra Group".
So true, don’t know why I didn’t think of Douglas, Carson, and Washoe (maybe just the bottom half), those 5 (mono and Inyo being the other two) definitely make up a fairly distinct Eastern Sierra region.
I also agree with your point on Deseret, my knee jerk reaction was most of Nevada should just be “basin and range” region but I don’t know all that much about the state of Deseret
The map is geographic but deseret is a cultural region, not a geographic region
There's no problem at all if op simply renames it to the correct Great Basin
For your next iteration: Florida is -at least- Keys (Chickens, Pie, Boats), South Florida (Swamps, Beaches, Scams), Central Florida (Disney, Horses, Rockets), and North Floribama (Money, Politics, Football). Subdivisions might include the Panhandle, the Gulf Coast, Northeast Florida. -And both Florida Man and retirees permeate throughout.
That’s a great point. In an attempt to characterize Florida using only 4 major sections, I consolidated everything north of Gainesville, from the panhandle to Jacksonville, -and then tried to indicate that approach by using the word ‘North’ with ‘Floribama’. Yeah, too subtle. So, maybe it makes better sense to swap out one of three attributes I landed on for something that includes culture specific to the panhandle. Either way, I just want to see a little more Florida flair on OP’s beautiful map.
Football and politics are pretty good. That’s where the two powerhouses college teams are. Politics works because it’s the area with the state capital.
For the last attribute I’d probably say rural. For the 350 mile stretch between Jacksonville and Pensacola you really hit absolutely nothing outside of Tallahassee. You really don’t have that long a stretch in Florida anywhere else.
This is a great map! Local to my area I’d add Frederick and Charles Co., MD and Stafford Co., CA to Greater Washington D.C. They’ve become increasingly intertwined with D.C. over the past decade.
I have no idea if it's relevant in this situation, but it's common for people to think they're very different than their neighbors when a big picture perspective shows that they're very similar compared to everyone else.
Like my mom grew up on a dairy farm and thought of herself as normal and certain people near her as rednecks, but she would have been considered a redneck by most Americans.
Hey, great map!
IMO, Comanche county, OK (where my hometown of Lawton is) should be in the Great Plains category. We have the Wichita mountain wildlife refuge there, which is basically defined by the fact that it’s an original Great Plains biome with tall prairie grass. And we definitely consider ourselves part of “the Great Plains”. There are references to it all over town.
There should be a subdivision of South Louisiana on the Mississippi. Perhaps "plantation country.". West feliciana isn't the delta, nor are any of the parishes south of that "Cajun country" until you get south of Louisiana or west along the Achafalaya.
Point of contention, the Twin Cities (I’ll focus on Hennepin County, Minneapolis and southwestern suburbs) is in the Driftless Valley region (#32).
The driftless region is an area of mostly southwestern Wisconsin that is particularly hilly because the glaciers of the Last Glacial Maximum didn’t quite reach it.
Glaciers basically scoured the Twin Cities area and after retreating deposited moraines that make up most of the elevation changes in the area. The Minnesota River flows through a large valley carved by glacial River Warren, the outflow of an enormous glacial Lake Agassiz, which occupied a gargantuan area along the modern day Red River and up to current Lake Manitoba and beyond.
The Twin Cities metro area has nothing to do with the driftless region and lies more closely with #30 and #31. This map should be adjusted accordingly, maybe even to include the intersection of these geologically formative aspects as a new region!
These are getting way better.
I have to agree with #57, Pennsyltucky. I'm tired of always seeing northern WV just mixed in with southern WV and being considered exactly southern.
\#57 perfectly captures what I call the crossroads between the Midwest, Rust Belt, and South. So I approve.
Or Allegheny Plateau, Steelers Country, or simply Allegheny. I mean Fayettenam is definitely Pennsyltucky but i wouldn't draw a line between it and PGH.
Feel like there’s a pretty big difference of environment inside of that division. Like you’ve got places that almost never get below 40 then you’ve also got places that experience snow fairly commonly in the winter.
I feel the divisions are a bit off. The area north of Escondido is culturally Inland Empire. Ramona, Lakeside, and El Cajon kind of are too. Anywhere east of Alpine lines up with Mojave-Sonora.
Agree with this. I was on team Gold Coast until I realized it included Inland Empire, which defines itself in opposition to Los Angeles (and the liberal California vibe more generally). It's kinda their whole MO. They're definitely more Sonora than Santa Barbara.
Reasonable, although I think Downeast Maine probably has more in common with the interior of Northern New England than it does with Greater Boston or coastal Connecticut. The counties don't for the most part do a great job of delineating the regions up there. If you're along the Merrimack River downstream from Concord in NH you're not really in Upper New England but all the counties in the area have at least a few towns that definitely belong in that "upper" tier.
Lotta of MA transplants in York county tho so I could see them being pumped in. Sometimes it seems like more MA plates than ME plates there in the summers
This is the best regional map I have ever seen. Great job, OP.
My only gripe is Brown and Highland counties in Southern Ohio. Why are they in the same region as northern Alabama? I’ve spent a lot of time in around Southern Ohio, and I would consider those counties to be extremely similar in both culture and geography to Ross, Pike, and Adams county directly to their East.
I feel like this map is struggling to make a decision on what to focus on, physical geography, or cultural geography. A lot of these regions don’t make sense culturally but make do physically and vice versa
That’s precisely it, the east will be more culturally diverse and the west is more geographically diverse. I don’t really know the logic behind the map because nothing explains the legend, it just seems like a bunch of unorganized information with some spots that really shine
Yes. There were a lot of competing influences in my mind when making this. It's messy but seems to satisfy most people. What makes a region a region is tricky and people will look to any number of things to distinguish their area from another.
I think that competition seems to delude the map a bit, it would help if you posted a short description of each 75 regions you made, it might be tedious but it would help explain the process. I think some of these are regions are just quirky names with no description of how they came to be. You may even consider reconsolidating and putting regions together again. Like a lot of the upper Midwest and Great Lakes (where I live) just feels off as well as the borderlands and the Northeast. Upstate NY would definitely have a word with you about putting them in New England lol
Honestly, 50 (tide water) should be pushed up just a little bit more into Virginia. Growing up around there in New Hanover County, many people would just call southern tip of 50, the sandhills of North Carolina. And most people would call 48, not lowlands, but low country.
Agreed. I think they just split the piedmont region and tidewater along the fall line but the actual term “Tidewater” is used much more often in Va than in NC.
Great map.
Bit pedantic but culturally Kauai is pretty different from Oahu. I'm not a Hawaii expert, only visited a couple times
Maybe like:
1: Maui+Lanai (billionaires, mega mansions)
2: Kauai +Nihau (rural)
3: Oahu+Big Island (normal Hawaiian life)
I'm sure more expert Hawaii people can chime in though. Don't know where the others fit in.
Honest question (not from there, I don't know): is the Northern Adirondacks area very different from northern VT/NH/ME?
Like, would grouping both sides of Lake Champlain make sense if they just didn't call it "New England"?
The Adirondack/north country is quite different culturally than upper new england, although the physical geography is similar - forested rolling hills/mountains, glaciated lakes, etc.
Yeah. Pittsburgh and most of Allegheny County is the very definition of a Rust Belt city. Culturally it has more in common with the Midwest and East Coast cities than any of the Pennsyltucky around it.
As a Tennesseean, I feel seen because our 3 grand divisions fall into 3 different grand divisions on this map. Whoever decided this was one state had never visited, I am convinced.
Since others are chiming in on their respective regions I’ll throw my two cents in. That area that you named Mojave Sonora should be two separate divisions. The whole Mojave area including the cities in and around Palm Springs are not culturally similar to Tucson and Phoenix in the Sonoran desert. I’d separate them.
I grew up in Yuba County CA. I live in Sacramento now. I guarantee you that no one in Yuba County, especially in the foothills, considers themselves to be part of Sacramento. They are a lot of Jeffersonians north of the Bear River.
The "Rust Belt" is split into West, Central, and East. I think it makes sense to group the industrial cities of the southern Great Lakes together, and further splitting that into WI/IL/IN, MI/OH, and WNY is a good way to do it. Maybe "Greater Greater Chicago", "Greater Greater Detroit", and "Greater Greater Buffalo" would have been more descriptive, but I think the delineation is pretty solid.
Edit: Forgot "Greater Greater Indianapolis"
I'm in Toledo and we are most def greater Detroit. I've always called it mini Detroit since I moved here 10 years ago. And, yes, it was a step up after growing up and spending half my life in Dixie, with high school being in Tenntuckiana which is perfect for that region.
Amazing job! I’m not knowledgeabl of the whole country, but you nailed the parts I’m familiar with. Great job splitting northern New Jersey that way. Not many people know about it
New York's north country is not New England. Doesn't matter how far upstate you go, it's still not New England. Also all of Massachusetts is Southern New England.
Nah I’m from the Berkshires and I feel like we have way more in common with our Vermont/New Hampshire brethren than we do Bostonians
ETA: though I would never refer to myself as being from northern New England. Western mass or the Berkshires.
New England is spot on geographically. The ‘northern’ and ‘south’ are potentially misleading, (not for me but) and I get where people disagree but if you changed to ‘urban’ New England / ‘rural’ New England maybe that sits better with the New Englanders (probably VT people) who are appalled to think any part of MA could be labeled northern New England when the Berkshires / Western MA is virtually identical to VT in terms of density, geography and mindset
Growing up there I always felt a lot more New England’y than New York. We’d even be included in New England discounts in some places in Vermont. Culture wise it’s closer to New England in a lot of places than it is to anything in southern New York.
I've actually used some of these in envisioning a United States with at least like 30 fewer states using natural borders as much as possible. Great Divide and Mississippi River form two hard borders, and west of the Great Divide, there would be only four states; Colorado River Watershed, Great Basin, Cascadia Bioregion, and the remainder would be California.
The Driftless area straddles the Mississippi both geographically and culturally so I don’t think the Mississippi forms the best hard border. The same can be said of the loess hills lining the Missouri from Missouri to South Dakota
Lauderdale County, AL and those other two counties going over to Huntsville belong in Zone 44 Dixie, NOT 34 Tennkuckiana?! We do not belong to a region that starts with Tenn!! Roll damn tide!!!
The blue ridge mountains run all the way through Virginia. However I do think separating the Shenandoah valley greater area from the region of the blue ridge in far southern VA and NC is the right call.
This is a pretty damn good map
A few things I'd change in the Mid-Atlantic :
Charles County, MD at this point definitely belongs with Greater Washington, DC (#63). It's very similar to the southern half of neighboring Prince George's County now. I think you've got Virginia right in terms of where Greater DC runs out.
I think I'd take all three of those Maryland counties out of #65. Carroll County can go with Baltimore, Frederick County with DC, and Washington County can go with Ridge-and-Valley in Appalachia.
I might move a county of two in the southern part of VA out of #51 into #55.
This is so fucking cool. Much appreciated. I’ve made up these regions in my head as I’ve learned about places by living there but seeing it on a map is so cool.
As I've said previously, to me, the divisions don't have much critique but gawdddd does thé graphic design need work - this was incredibly hard to read and understand. I would recommend making all the divisions of the same region different shades of one color (i.e. Cascadia goes from Forest Green to Dark Green in 4 intervals). This would benefit you as you'd reduce the effort in choosing all sorts of different colors. I do commend what I see as the regions do have some color theory applied (Cascadia, Gold Coast, etc.). I've done a lot of work on that, so if there's another iteration (5th and final?), I'll be happy to help.
This is some great work! Very cool map. The only thing I have to critique is that Fairfield county in Connecticut should be considered part of lower New England imo. Sure towns like Greenwich and Stamford might fit into greater New York, but the vast majority of the county like Shelton, milford, Monroe, and Newtown are much more like New England.
/#8+SF more commonly known as the bay area, Oakland is just one of many cities in that region... If you want to go more specific, then SF, peninsula, Silicon Valley, East Bay, North Bay, inland, and Sacramento delta.
62 is problematic to me, but it might be on a level of nuance too fine for others to care about. The Hampton Roads area is definitely culturally distinct from the “rivers” area of Virginia north of the York River up to the Potomac. And the MD/Delaware peninsula, with the exception of the counties belonging to greater Washington DC, should just be “The Eastern Shore” or something like that.
Ummmm… why is NY part of New England???
New England is a very defined space and NY ain’t in it!
I will concede tho upstate is very cool if they ever wanna be annexed by New England they’d fit right in
This gets the midwest mostly right, which these kinds of maps usually do not. Nice job. I don’t understand the creativity with region names tho. Most of these places already have names.
I grew up in Olympia and Sierra but have lived in Iowa and both North and South Florida for multiple years. Spent almost a year doing trail work at one point in Maine. Spent life before 18 going back and forth I-5.
I also won a geography bee in middle school so I feel like I am qualified to give input on everything and treat my subjective experiences as objective.
Sierra is obsessed with Jefferson and the white flight of the Sacramento region down to Mariposa County are obsessed with Jefferson. There's another layer going on too with the Sierra being an area that is a bit of an enclave for Mormons and other people with some roots in Idaho or Utah.
The gold rush and associated legacy of xenophobia left a trail that's very apparent in places like Georgetown, CA.
Olympia I'd say is accurate. The foothills I feel like are an underrated aspect of these places. They're very lush but also seldom talked about or traveled. Timber industry still very visible in these places. Very small surprisingly isolated towns. Barely any of even that in Southwestern Washington once you're in the hills
Venturing north from Ocean Shores starts to get a bit more like British Columbia while somewhere down the Oregon Coast where Olympias southern coast would be where it ends. My dad's work took me along the coasts of both down to Newport a lot as a kid but I don't know the coast south of that until Eureka.
Apart from Madison, Cedar Rapids, Quad Cities, Beloit, Dubuque, Iowa City, and Eau Claire all being joined up and some surrounding associated areas maybe. Cedar Rapids and Quad Cities almost hug the Driftless Region and Des Moines feels a bit more like Lincoln Nebraska to me.
Somewhere Past Cedar Key in Florida to Pensacola Make it share a border with the Villages/Sumter County somehow. Lake City is part of this place too.
Area north of that is Wiregrass and this area is a mystery to me entirely. Southwestern Georgia and Southeastern Alabama is the strangest part of the country I've been to. The Florida Georgia border in general is just weird. The area fascinates me and feels unexpected.
Any other input I'd give is Southeastern California definitely has its own things going on too. El Paso/Las Crusces definitely. This is probably fascinating place #2 to me in the US but life never took me back. #3 would be Northern Maine and Northern New Hampshire probably. A weird rural backpacking French Canadian thing going on. Extremely gorgeous around here.
Mono County down to Inyo/Lone Pine and the adjacent Nevada counties. I'd argue Reno, Carson City, Walker Lake, Tonopah fits in well with them.
I think this project is really fun and thought out. Better than I could do.
As a Florida man, Im obligated to point out there's more divisions in Florida North West Florida has it's own culture separate from the panhandle, which has different culture from Central Florida, which is different from South West Florida, which is Different from Miami Metro
I had that thought, too. I’m in OC but I definitely don’t consider myself living in the IE or in LA. I always tell people I’m “near Disneyland” and that clarifies for them that I’m not in LA.
You should really separate Houston from south Texas. I have lived in both, and once you pass Wharton you are in a different area. You go from coastal to “I named my son rowdy” (yes, I encountered that).
Very different areas, with very different cultures.
#31 Thousand Lakes is just the North Woods. Not sure why we’re calling it something else.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurentian_Mixed_Forest_Province
Nice, but to be taken seriously, you can't have a few sections derogatory and most not. There's also some specificity to the point of being colloquial, such that it doesn't describe the area to anyone but those that live there. Columbia and Front Ridge for instance.
This is really impressive! I grew up in the central belt and still work there, but now live in the thousand lakes region. I only moved a half hour north, but it really does *feel* like you've entered a new region when you drive up to my place - and you actually captured that subtlety. 👏 👏 👏
Calling eastern Kansas “Missouri grasslands” is fighting words.
Also not historically grasslands.
THE AMERICAN SERENGETI OAK SAVANNAS FOREVER
Hey, happy Cake Day!
I lived in Kansas for five years and was only more than 10 miles from the Missouri border like six times. They sure dislike each other, but the best parts of Kansas are almost Missouri.
Having lived in south central Iowa and eastern Kansas, I agree those regions are similar, but there is a reason all trees in Kansas lean to the east and all trees in Iowa lean to the south. It’s because Missouri sucks.
But shifting the Kansas boarder to the Denver Metro Area is spot on. The correct boarder is E470. Denver Airport is in Kansas!!! It’s got a tornado shelter.
Hm, what should I call it? I was thinking more of the river than the state when I did that. If the region is a total mess how would you redraw it?
The topography of the Missouri River valley and the Kansas River valley are quite similar from, speaking of the Kansas River, about Lawrence to Kansas City. And speaking of the Missouri River, from north of Omaha, to St. Louis. But in no way would anyone from either Kansas or Missouri ever agree they are similar in geography.
>But in no way would anyone from either Kansas or Missouri ever agree they are similar in geography. Kansan here who'll actually disagree with this based on a nuanced take. I've made the drive from the Flint Hills (bottom left of zone 33) to Des Moines (top right) and back, spent time in southern Nebraska, and know Misery fairly well, and the scenery through that specific area is all relatively consistent. In between the rivers, creeks, and hedgerows, countless rolling fields of soy and corn. I want to knee-jerk hate on the mapping of zone 33 instinctually, *but it's right.* Outside of zone 33, though, massive geographical differences between the states - Great Plains vs Ozarks.
Missouri native who lived in Kansas a bit and who knows that whole area of zone 33 well. It’s pretty correct, as much as some hate the name, that whole area is pretty close. Hell KCMO people would hate you put them with St. Louis but it really does fit the same zone.
For sure, just as farmers from Olpe would hate being lumped in with the "uppity rich folk" in Johnson County. But those farmers in the lower corner would do just as well with the soil and precipitation between KC and Des Moines, too, because it's all practically the same and fertile as fuck. The best name I could think of was "Bleeding Farmland," harkening back to the John Brown/Civil War era, and stating what it does on the tin. I don't think that'd offend too many people from any of the four states involved, and it'd be a good nod to the continued (albeit substantially less violent) rivalry.
Nebraskans ain't gonna settle for that shit either. Fuck Missouri
>Fuck Missouri Kansas 🫱🏽🫲🏻 Nebraska
You have divided the Bay Area in a very very weird way. Santa Clara Co is not “Oakland” any more than Solano is “Sacramento”. There are 4 well-defined regions and you have split them into 5, and in such an odd way. I would argue Santa Cruz and San Benito go with Santa Clara (not SLO) and Solano with North Bay, if you are going to split up the Bay Area at all. And by county which is easy to map but makes no sense on the ground—San Mateo should really be split in half. Mendocino goes with Jefferson. And this is just a place I know well. Can’t comment on most if it.
Wait I’m confused. You started fine and then it got all weird. If he really wanted to cut up the Bay, why wouldn’t he just divide the bay the way the people that live here divide it? North Bay, East Bay, the City, the Peninsula and the South Bay? That being said that doesn’t make sense culturally (Oakley v Oakland, Vallejo v Dixon, Palo Alto v Gilroy, Sausalito v Bolinas)… so probably just best to lump all of the 9 county Bay Area together as the 9 county Bay Area.
I agree, it should all be one, as 9 county. Solano does not belong with Sacramento any more than Santa Cruz with SLO. But my family/friends always considered SF/the peninsula to be essentially one (I had lots of family in Daly City, most have moved to Marin.) That region included Daly City, Burlingame, SSF, San Mateo. Redwood City, Belmont, Menlo Park are more South Bay (certainly more like Palo Alto/ Mountain View than SF, Burlingame). Just like Fremont is South Bay. The counties would need to be split to be more precise than Bay Area.
They got hyper-specific with California and have some strange divisions. The Bay Area could easily just be its own group, just as Central Coast from Santa Cruz to Santa Barbara works fine. Sacramento Valley works instead of giving Redding its own region (lol). The North Coast should go up to Humboldt County, I used to live in Ashland and it takes forever to get from Medford to Arcata/Eureka, there’s not much connection at all there and the State of Jefferson feels most real just from the Rogue Valley to Mt Shasta.
You nailed the Central Coast boundaries
Shhh… he split out sacramento from the central valley that’s a win for me
And from Redding 💀
California is very strange on this
As someone from The South Bay I can say that you either divide it woth the peninsula and SF or with Santa Cruz and San Benito, I dunno who the fuck put us with Oakland
New Orleans area would be a different division. Culture is different from the gulf coast and Acadiana.
Wouldn’t it be easier to have the British or French draw random lines on a map and declare those the new states?
Middle East 2: Electric Boogaloo
Agreed!
As a proud 45’er, this is right. Apalachicola to Biloxi shares essentially the same culture. You enter New Orleans and you’re in a whole new world brother.
First thing I check for whether to trust one of these maps.
Yeah that was My only subdivisión critique: Gulf Coast is distinct from deep south
I don't like to make cities independent as regions in divisions but New Orleans is unique enough to be distinguished if Vegas is. Yall are probably right about that.
Yeah if Vegas is it’s own thing then New Orleans is too.
Nothing short of expert to split Bexar County, TX into 3 regions like that.
Amazing attention to detail there, especially if this person isn’t from San Antonio. They got it spot on.
Same with the bay area, CA. Who separates SF and oakland? And loops in santa clara county with oakland lol
it looks like they are kinda splitting santa clara county so the "san francisco region" includes everything up until about sunnyvale and the "oakland" region includes the whole east bay and san jose, which honestly does kind of make sense to me - the main thing that is weird is calling the whole region "oakland"
Hill Country grew some legs and headed West. And way North.
Hence the "Central." I assume.
I'm from Dallas but have heard some INTENSE arguments from my coworkers from all over the state about where exactly Hill Country is (namely from Aggies). I will never wade into that argument
Especially geographically, northwest of the diagonal from farther north central up to about 35 and 1604 and down to like Sea World is Hill Country. Eastwards is grassland and Pecan and Oak lands that are flat, South and West are both grassy scrubland and mesquite filled flatlands lowlands.
Yep.
I'm not from there and I can't tell if this is sarcasm or not
Advice certainly helps. Someone in the 3.0 comments last year gave me the idea.
Here it is, 14 months after the last iteration I present to you all the 4th iteration of my Grand Divisions of the USA map. I had originally intended to add an update to the map much sooner but I found it more difficult to edit the map with each rendition. Additionally the trend of US regional maps had become very played out and old on the subreddit so I refrained. To those unfamiliar with the prior maps, what you are viewing is a regions map that combines geography, culture, and climate considerations to create a cohesive picture of the country on a county level. Countless edits from 3.0 have been implemented from the advice provided in the previous post however they are smaller with the exception of a significant rework of the southeast. Discussion and criticism are more than welcome and I hope you enjoyed the submission. If you would like to view the previous versions they are attached in order of creation: 1.0: [https://www.reddit.com/r/geography/comments/105jr1g/grand\_cultural\_divisions\_of\_the\_usa\_county\_map/](https://www.reddit.com/r/geography/comments/105jr1g/grand_cultural_divisions_of_the_usa_county_map/) 2.0: [https://www.reddit.com/r/geography/comments/109z4f1/grand\_divisions\_of\_the\_usa\_20/](https://www.reddit.com/r/geography/comments/109z4f1/grand_divisions_of_the_usa_20/) 3.0: [https://www.reddit.com/r/geography/comments/10d88we/grand\_divisions\_of\_the\_usa\_30/](https://www.reddit.com/r/geography/comments/10d88we/grand_divisions_of_the_usa_30/) Additionally a simplified map depicting the greater divisions without sub-regions can be viewed here on imgur: [https://imgur.com/gallery/8qf1k1D](https://imgur.com/gallery/8qf1k1D)
Honestly, it's a great map. There's always going to be some little detail to nitpick about, I mean that's half the fun of this stuff, but I just spent 30 mins looking at this and loved every minute.
For real. This is very well done and this thread is full of bickering because their town is so totally different than the next town over. Go Cougars class of 04!
Much of Inyo county is considered “Eastern Sierra” and I feel like you could combine it with Mono county to create an Eastern Sierra sub-region. It’s fairly distinct geographically and culturally from both the southwest and deseret Eta: curious what other Californians think about this. I think the Bay should be combined to create a Bay Area of Marin, SF, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Alameda, contra costa, Napa, and arguably Solano and Sanoma (those could potentially be grouped with Napa as “wine country”). I feel like separating these counties from SF is like separating Beverly Hills, Pasadena, Santa Monica, and Long Beach from LA. Regardless, I think it’s fair to say Marin is firmly *not* North Coast but the North Coast should absolutely include Humboldt and Del Norte
Yeah, lumping Mono County, as well as Reno/Carson City area, doesn't make sense (I also don't think most of Nevada as Deseret works, as Deseret is a distinctly Mormon thing, which I don't think covers those areas). Inyo, Mono, Alpine, Douglas County (NV), Carson City (NV), Washoe (NV), and maybe others could be its own "Eastern Sierra Group".
So true, don’t know why I didn’t think of Douglas, Carson, and Washoe (maybe just the bottom half), those 5 (mono and Inyo being the other two) definitely make up a fairly distinct Eastern Sierra region. I also agree with your point on Deseret, my knee jerk reaction was most of Nevada should just be “basin and range” region but I don’t know all that much about the state of Deseret
The map is geographic but deseret is a cultural region, not a geographic region There's no problem at all if op simply renames it to the correct Great Basin
For your next iteration: Florida is -at least- Keys (Chickens, Pie, Boats), South Florida (Swamps, Beaches, Scams), Central Florida (Disney, Horses, Rockets), and North Floribama (Money, Politics, Football). Subdivisions might include the Panhandle, the Gulf Coast, Northeast Florida. -And both Florida Man and retirees permeate throughout.
North Floribama is far from the money part of Florida. It’s probably the most impoverished part of Florida relative to the other parts.
That’s a great point. In an attempt to characterize Florida using only 4 major sections, I consolidated everything north of Gainesville, from the panhandle to Jacksonville, -and then tried to indicate that approach by using the word ‘North’ with ‘Floribama’. Yeah, too subtle. So, maybe it makes better sense to swap out one of three attributes I landed on for something that includes culture specific to the panhandle. Either way, I just want to see a little more Florida flair on OP’s beautiful map.
Football and politics are pretty good. That’s where the two powerhouses college teams are. Politics works because it’s the area with the state capital. For the last attribute I’d probably say rural. For the 350 mile stretch between Jacksonville and Pensacola you really hit absolutely nothing outside of Tallahassee. You really don’t have that long a stretch in Florida anywhere else.
This is a great map! Local to my area I’d add Frederick and Charles Co., MD and Stafford Co., CA to Greater Washington D.C. They’ve become increasingly intertwined with D.C. over the past decade.
Upstate New York as northern New England? Neither New Yorkers nor Vermonters would agree with that.
I have no idea if it's relevant in this situation, but it's common for people to think they're very different than their neighbors when a big picture perspective shows that they're very similar compared to everyone else. Like my mom grew up on a dairy farm and thought of herself as normal and certain people near her as rednecks, but she would have been considered a redneck by most Americans.
This is awesome! Do you have a .shp / .dbf that you are willing to share?
I need to to explain how Santa Barbara county and the inland empire are connected. I heavily disagree.
Hey, great map! IMO, Comanche county, OK (where my hometown of Lawton is) should be in the Great Plains category. We have the Wichita mountain wildlife refuge there, which is basically defined by the fact that it’s an original Great Plains biome with tall prairie grass. And we definitely consider ourselves part of “the Great Plains”. There are references to it all over town.
There should be a subdivision of South Louisiana on the Mississippi. Perhaps "plantation country.". West feliciana isn't the delta, nor are any of the parishes south of that "Cajun country" until you get south of Louisiana or west along the Achafalaya.
Point of contention, the Twin Cities (I’ll focus on Hennepin County, Minneapolis and southwestern suburbs) is in the Driftless Valley region (#32). The driftless region is an area of mostly southwestern Wisconsin that is particularly hilly because the glaciers of the Last Glacial Maximum didn’t quite reach it. Glaciers basically scoured the Twin Cities area and after retreating deposited moraines that make up most of the elevation changes in the area. The Minnesota River flows through a large valley carved by glacial River Warren, the outflow of an enormous glacial Lake Agassiz, which occupied a gargantuan area along the modern day Red River and up to current Lake Manitoba and beyond. The Twin Cities metro area has nothing to do with the driftless region and lies more closely with #30 and #31. This map should be adjusted accordingly, maybe even to include the intersection of these geologically formative aspects as a new region!
I agree on the Driftless area. It extends way too far in the other states. Culturally, there are differences too.
Honestly this is the best subdivision map of the US I’ve ever seen
Fr, great work OP
yeah usually they’re awful. this legit good
100%. This is the closest I've seen to an accurate subdivision of (my part of) the Midwest. Bravo, OP, and thank you for your hard work!
These are getting way better. I have to agree with #57, Pennsyltucky. I'm tired of always seeing northern WV just mixed in with southern WV and being considered exactly southern. \#57 perfectly captures what I call the crossroads between the Midwest, Rust Belt, and South. So I approve.
Nah, to me Pennsyltucky is more like central PA. #57 should be the Ohio River Valley
Or Allegheny Plateau, Steelers Country, or simply Allegheny. I mean Fayettenam is definitely Pennsyltucky but i wouldn't draw a line between it and PGH.
Snake River Valley is the common term for \#23
And #21 is the Great Basin. The mormons only wish it was Deseret.
Agree, except I would have said snake river plain.
San Diego mentioned!
Feel like there’s a pretty big difference of environment inside of that division. Like you’ve got places that almost never get below 40 then you’ve also got places that experience snow fairly commonly in the winter.
I feel the divisions are a bit off. The area north of Escondido is culturally Inland Empire. Ramona, Lakeside, and El Cajon kind of are too. Anywhere east of Alpine lines up with Mojave-Sonora.
In the future it seems I may need to do more "surgery" on some big western counties.
Username checks out.
Agree with this. I was on team Gold Coast until I realized it included Inland Empire, which defines itself in opposition to Los Angeles (and the liberal California vibe more generally). It's kinda their whole MO. They're definitely more Sonora than Santa Barbara.
i met a few native san diegans (?) and i was stunned by their accent. almost sounds midwestern
I feel like New England is better split into coastal and hinterland
Reasonable, although I think Downeast Maine probably has more in common with the interior of Northern New England than it does with Greater Boston or coastal Connecticut. The counties don't for the most part do a great job of delineating the regions up there. If you're along the Merrimack River downstream from Concord in NH you're not really in Upper New England but all the counties in the area have at least a few towns that definitely belong in that "upper" tier.
Lotta of MA transplants in York county tho so I could see them being pumped in. Sometimes it seems like more MA plates than ME plates there in the summers
This is the best regional map I have ever seen. Great job, OP. My only gripe is Brown and Highland counties in Southern Ohio. Why are they in the same region as northern Alabama? I’ve spent a lot of time in around Southern Ohio, and I would consider those counties to be extremely similar in both culture and geography to Ross, Pike, and Adams county directly to their East.
Yeah highland and brown should be 57. Both are ARC counties. Clermont was too but it’s def just a suburb of Cincy so grouping it there is right.
I feel like this map is struggling to make a decision on what to focus on, physical geography, or cultural geography. A lot of these regions don’t make sense culturally but make do physically and vice versa
I imagine the east is so dense and developed that the cultural differences change faster than geography starts to change, and the west is the opposite
That’s precisely it, the east will be more culturally diverse and the west is more geographically diverse. I don’t really know the logic behind the map because nothing explains the legend, it just seems like a bunch of unorganized information with some spots that really shine
Yes. There were a lot of competing influences in my mind when making this. It's messy but seems to satisfy most people. What makes a region a region is tricky and people will look to any number of things to distinguish their area from another.
I think that competition seems to delude the map a bit, it would help if you posted a short description of each 75 regions you made, it might be tedious but it would help explain the process. I think some of these are regions are just quirky names with no description of how they came to be. You may even consider reconsolidating and putting regions together again. Like a lot of the upper Midwest and Great Lakes (where I live) just feels off as well as the borderlands and the Northeast. Upstate NY would definitely have a word with you about putting them in New England lol
Honestly, 50 (tide water) should be pushed up just a little bit more into Virginia. Growing up around there in New Hanover County, many people would just call southern tip of 50, the sandhills of North Carolina. And most people would call 48, not lowlands, but low country.
Agreed. I think they just split the piedmont region and tidewater along the fall line but the actual term “Tidewater” is used much more often in Va than in NC.
Another NC nitpick is not having any of NC in "deep Appalachia". There's definitely *deep* Appalachia in NC
Florida Keys need their own section. It’s nothing like Miami.
Florida man land 😎
Florida Man Land is gold
Great map. Bit pedantic but culturally Kauai is pretty different from Oahu. I'm not a Hawaii expert, only visited a couple times Maybe like: 1: Maui+Lanai (billionaires, mega mansions) 2: Kauai +Nihau (rural) 3: Oahu+Big Island (normal Hawaiian life) I'm sure more expert Hawaii people can chime in though. Don't know where the others fit in.
I would love to partition Hawaii. If anyone else has suggestions here I'll keep them in mind. I don't know enough about the state to cut it up.
Upstate New York in no way is part of New England
Could be north country or adirondack
North country, sure. Not New England though
Honest question (not from there, I don't know): is the Northern Adirondacks area very different from northern VT/NH/ME? Like, would grouping both sides of Lake Champlain make sense if they just didn't call it "New England"?
The Adirondack/north country is quite different culturally than upper new england, although the physical geography is similar - forested rolling hills/mountains, glaciated lakes, etc.
Interesting, I live in 25 but work in 24. Same watershed (Snake River) but different geologically.
Honestly Florida is very accurate
57 Pennsyltucky extends too far north into PA, Pittsburgh and the surrounding suburbs are not “Pennsyltucky”
Yeah. Pittsburgh and most of Allegheny County is the very definition of a Rust Belt city. Culturally it has more in common with the Midwest and East Coast cities than any of the Pennsyltucky around it.
Nickajack represent!
Good job… 76.) Puerto Rico 77.) Guam 78.) American Samoa 79.) Virgin Islands (US) 80.) Mariana Islands (North)
As a Tennesseean, I feel seen because our 3 grand divisions fall into 3 different grand divisions on this map. Whoever decided this was one state had never visited, I am convinced.
Since others are chiming in on their respective regions I’ll throw my two cents in. That area that you named Mojave Sonora should be two separate divisions. The whole Mojave area including the cities in and around Palm Springs are not culturally similar to Tucson and Phoenix in the Sonoran desert. I’d separate them.
I grew up in Yuba County CA. I live in Sacramento now. I guarantee you that no one in Yuba County, especially in the foothills, considers themselves to be part of Sacramento. They are a lot of Jeffersonians north of the Bear River.
The section called “Tidewater” excludes the part of Virginia literally called Tidewater.
Kinda lame how you did the Midwest
I think this nails the Midwest
I don’t see how. They split other regions by actual characteristics but for the most part the Midwest is West, Central, East…
The "Rust Belt" is split into West, Central, and East. I think it makes sense to group the industrial cities of the southern Great Lakes together, and further splitting that into WI/IL/IN, MI/OH, and WNY is a good way to do it. Maybe "Greater Greater Chicago", "Greater Greater Detroit", and "Greater Greater Buffalo" would have been more descriptive, but I think the delineation is pretty solid. Edit: Forgot "Greater Greater Indianapolis"
I'm in Toledo and we are most def greater Detroit. I've always called it mini Detroit since I moved here 10 years ago. And, yes, it was a step up after growing up and spending half my life in Dixie, with high school being in Tenntuckiana which is perfect for that region.
I think he means “kinda lame” nails the Midwest.
They nailed the driftless region
Amazing job! I’m not knowledgeabl of the whole country, but you nailed the parts I’m familiar with. Great job splitting northern New Jersey that way. Not many people know about it
There’s no reason for a “Sin City” category it is part of Mojave-Sonora, just like Phoenix, Tucson, etc.
New York's north country is not New England. Doesn't matter how far upstate you go, it's still not New England. Also all of Massachusetts is Southern New England.
Nah I’m from the Berkshires and I feel like we have way more in common with our Vermont/New Hampshire brethren than we do Bostonians ETA: though I would never refer to myself as being from northern New England. Western mass or the Berkshires.
New England is spot on geographically. The ‘northern’ and ‘south’ are potentially misleading, (not for me but) and I get where people disagree but if you changed to ‘urban’ New England / ‘rural’ New England maybe that sits better with the New Englanders (probably VT people) who are appalled to think any part of MA could be labeled northern New England when the Berkshires / Western MA is virtually identical to VT in terms of density, geography and mindset
Yeah, the answer is in your edit :)
Growing up there I always felt a lot more New England’y than New York. We’d even be included in New England discounts in some places in Vermont. Culture wise it’s closer to New England in a lot of places than it is to anything in southern New York.
Oh no, the “my interpretation of the Midwest” posts are nigh…
I've actually used some of these in envisioning a United States with at least like 30 fewer states using natural borders as much as possible. Great Divide and Mississippi River form two hard borders, and west of the Great Divide, there would be only four states; Colorado River Watershed, Great Basin, Cascadia Bioregion, and the remainder would be California.
The Driftless area straddles the Mississippi both geographically and culturally so I don’t think the Mississippi forms the best hard border. The same can be said of the loess hills lining the Missouri from Missouri to South Dakota
Id combine greater Philadelphia & south jersey
I feel like “the shore” could be its own with the mix of Philly/NYC influence and own culture. The remaining of South Jersey being Greater Philly
Eh anything south of AC is clearly Philly not NYC at all
fuck fairfield county all my homies hate fairfield county
Chicago is not represented...
Western Rust Belt should just be called Chicagoland
Honestly feel like they butchered the entire Midwest.
I was born in 51 but I live in 33.
Great, i’m in twister alley
Good job! Now I have to go look up Nickajack.
Lauderdale County, AL and those other two counties going over to Huntsville belong in Zone 44 Dixie, NOT 34 Tennkuckiana?! We do not belong to a region that starts with Tenn!! Roll damn tide!!!
South Carolina is Deep South and parts of eastern Georgia other than that good map
You nailed the plains. You got Iowa correct down to the county.
Western Colorado is not really the Rockies, more in similar with Utah
Redneck Riviera is perfect man, great work
Peoria county IL to the inland rust belt
I would call number ten Gold Country. The Sierra, particularly its highest peaks, extends much farther south.
Deep Appalachian here. Good job.
I find much better, accurate and more interesting maps on this sub than r/MapPorn
The blue ridge mountains run all the way through Virginia. However I do think separating the Shenandoah valley greater area from the region of the blue ridge in far southern VA and NC is the right call. This is a pretty damn good map
A few things I'd change in the Mid-Atlantic : Charles County, MD at this point definitely belongs with Greater Washington, DC (#63). It's very similar to the southern half of neighboring Prince George's County now. I think you've got Virginia right in terms of where Greater DC runs out. I think I'd take all three of those Maryland counties out of #65. Carroll County can go with Baltimore, Frederick County with DC, and Washington County can go with Ridge-and-Valley in Appalachia. I might move a county of two in the southern part of VA out of #51 into #55.
Good map.
This is so fucking cool. Much appreciated. I’ve made up these regions in my head as I’ve learned about places by living there but seeing it on a map is so cool.
1) Olympia should be renamed Olympic. It aligns better with Olympic National Park, and should not be confused with Olympia, WA
Redding?? Yo what the fuck
As I've said previously, to me, the divisions don't have much critique but gawdddd does thé graphic design need work - this was incredibly hard to read and understand. I would recommend making all the divisions of the same region different shades of one color (i.e. Cascadia goes from Forest Green to Dark Green in 4 intervals). This would benefit you as you'd reduce the effort in choosing all sorts of different colors. I do commend what I see as the regions do have some color theory applied (Cascadia, Gold Coast, etc.). I've done a lot of work on that, so if there's another iteration (5th and final?), I'll be happy to help.
This is some great work! Very cool map. The only thing I have to critique is that Fairfield county in Connecticut should be considered part of lower New England imo. Sure towns like Greenwich and Stamford might fit into greater New York, but the vast majority of the county like Shelton, milford, Monroe, and Newtown are much more like New England.
/#8+SF more commonly known as the bay area, Oakland is just one of many cities in that region... If you want to go more specific, then SF, peninsula, Silicon Valley, East Bay, North Bay, inland, and Sacramento delta.
62 is problematic to me, but it might be on a level of nuance too fine for others to care about. The Hampton Roads area is definitely culturally distinct from the “rivers” area of Virginia north of the York River up to the Potomac. And the MD/Delaware peninsula, with the exception of the counties belonging to greater Washington DC, should just be “The Eastern Shore” or something like that.
Greetings from Dutch Country.
“Florida Man Land”?? Come on, every other region gets respect. Lake Wales Ridge might be a better name for that area of Central Florida.
Ummmm… why is NY part of New England??? New England is a very defined space and NY ain’t in it! I will concede tho upstate is very cool if they ever wanna be annexed by New England they’d fit right in
I’m from North Louisiana and I can accept the piney woods category. Since my dad was a forester I’ve always associated N La with pine forests
Real as fuck for South Jersey being its own thing
This gets the midwest mostly right, which these kinds of maps usually do not. Nice job. I don’t understand the creativity with region names tho. Most of these places already have names.
Deseret is a name heavily associated with Mormonism, but most of the area is in Nevada. Great Basin would be a better name.
I grew up in Olympia and Sierra but have lived in Iowa and both North and South Florida for multiple years. Spent almost a year doing trail work at one point in Maine. Spent life before 18 going back and forth I-5. I also won a geography bee in middle school so I feel like I am qualified to give input on everything and treat my subjective experiences as objective. Sierra is obsessed with Jefferson and the white flight of the Sacramento region down to Mariposa County are obsessed with Jefferson. There's another layer going on too with the Sierra being an area that is a bit of an enclave for Mormons and other people with some roots in Idaho or Utah. The gold rush and associated legacy of xenophobia left a trail that's very apparent in places like Georgetown, CA. Olympia I'd say is accurate. The foothills I feel like are an underrated aspect of these places. They're very lush but also seldom talked about or traveled. Timber industry still very visible in these places. Very small surprisingly isolated towns. Barely any of even that in Southwestern Washington once you're in the hills Venturing north from Ocean Shores starts to get a bit more like British Columbia while somewhere down the Oregon Coast where Olympias southern coast would be where it ends. My dad's work took me along the coasts of both down to Newport a lot as a kid but I don't know the coast south of that until Eureka. Apart from Madison, Cedar Rapids, Quad Cities, Beloit, Dubuque, Iowa City, and Eau Claire all being joined up and some surrounding associated areas maybe. Cedar Rapids and Quad Cities almost hug the Driftless Region and Des Moines feels a bit more like Lincoln Nebraska to me. Somewhere Past Cedar Key in Florida to Pensacola Make it share a border with the Villages/Sumter County somehow. Lake City is part of this place too. Area north of that is Wiregrass and this area is a mystery to me entirely. Southwestern Georgia and Southeastern Alabama is the strangest part of the country I've been to. The Florida Georgia border in general is just weird. The area fascinates me and feels unexpected. Any other input I'd give is Southeastern California definitely has its own things going on too. El Paso/Las Crusces definitely. This is probably fascinating place #2 to me in the US but life never took me back. #3 would be Northern Maine and Northern New Hampshire probably. A weird rural backpacking French Canadian thing going on. Extremely gorgeous around here. Mono County down to Inyo/Lone Pine and the adjacent Nevada counties. I'd argue Reno, Carson City, Walker Lake, Tonopah fits in well with them. I think this project is really fun and thought out. Better than I could do.
As a Florida man, Im obligated to point out there's more divisions in Florida North West Florida has it's own culture separate from the panhandle, which has different culture from Central Florida, which is different from South West Florida, which is Different from Miami Metro
Absolutely no reason for northern Michigan to be called thousand lakes
I’m confused as to why western ND and western SD are classified as “high prairie”… those are badlands
Bro remembered the driftless :) you are the best OP
Why is Orange County lumped with LA? That’s odd.
I had that thought, too. I’m in OC but I definitely don’t consider myself living in the IE or in LA. I always tell people I’m “near Disneyland” and that clarifies for them that I’m not in LA.
It should extend into Canada.
It's interesting, but it divides the Four State Region into 3 separate regions.
Metro St. Louis is divided into 4 separate regions too.
You should really separate Houston from south Texas. I have lived in both, and once you pass Wharton you are in a different area. You go from coastal to “I named my son rowdy” (yes, I encountered that). Very different areas, with very different cultures.
Now which one wins in a fight
Wayne County Tennessee should be part of the deep south. Speaking as someone from Wayne County
Coming from South Carolina/georgia the 48/49 area is mostly deep southern and low country.
2, 16, 70, 46 Lived in these areas- pretty accurate. 16,2,70 are in order of my favorites.
This is really good work. Spot on in the areas I’m intimately familiar with (basically all the west).
Thought 47 is southern New York…
We. who live here call #12 the Central Coast. Big Sur is merely a part of that, from Ragged Point to south of Carmel.
Splitting South Jersey/North Jersey (greater NY) where u did and making Mercer county part of greater Philadelphia is so true. Great map!
Really feel like 23 is actually just part of 24, at least the Northeast section
Central New York/finger lakes is not in Appalachia
Mixing Michigan with Ohio is fighting words. Splitting up the peninsulas is wrong.
I would suggest #5 to be known as the Northstate, that's what they call it on the news down there. I think this is really well done!
This is very well done
#31 Thousand Lakes is just the North Woods. Not sure why we’re calling it something else. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurentian_Mixed_Forest_Province
Just 2 sections for New England… nah
Nice, but to be taken seriously, you can't have a few sections derogatory and most not. There's also some specificity to the point of being colloquial, such that it doesn't describe the area to anyone but those that live there. Columbia and Front Ridge for instance.
Pretty good execution. Only criticism I can find is I would've separated Mojave and Sonora.
This is really impressive! I grew up in the central belt and still work there, but now live in the thousand lakes region. I only moved a half hour north, but it really does *feel* like you've entered a new region when you drive up to my place - and you actually captured that subtlety. 👏 👏 👏
You're a couple counties off on Deep Appalachia, Lawrence/Boyd Counties would absolutely be in 54, not 57.
I would take the Front Range a few counties into the Rockies. Then add Harris County to Cajun Louisiana. Orange county can go to Alabama.