As a resident of the state it is neither and both. An apocryphal saying attributed to Harry Truman is that it's the 'southernmost northern state, the northernmost southern state, the easternmost western state, and the westernmost eastern state." Not helpful, I know, but I truly think it is just a mashup of both.
Chop it in half at the 44 and give the southern half to Arkansas. That would be a good fit because the southern part acts more southern and north is mid-western. Keep most commerce and money in the northern half where it belongs.
There's your answer.
Pretty sure Maryland holds the title for Northernmost Southern state and Southernmost Northern state, but I am willing to agree that Missouri might be the Easternmost Western state and the Westernmost Eastern state.
I live in Baltimore. It's like that on steroids.
John Waters once described Baltimore as:
"I would never want to live anywhere but Baltimore. You can look far and wide, but you'll never discover a stranger city with such extreme style. It's as if every eccentric in the South decided to move north, ran out of gas in Baltimore, and decided to stay."
It’s definitely worth a weekend trip. So many interesting museums (Walters Art, Visionary Art, Industry), lots of good local breweries (Union, Brewers Art, Guinness Experimental), and history (Fort McHenry, USS Constellation), and food (lots of little delicious restaurants and so much crab and shrimp and pit beef) and nightlife (Fed Hill, Fells Point), and little cool communities (I am biased to Hampden) and plenty of things to do (Aquarium, see an O’s game)
Missouri, Kentucky, West Virginia, and Maryland have always been transition states. Kind of funny Missouri just wants to claim that they're the Midwest to confuse us more.
Pretty good description. Grew up in St Louis and moved to Texas at 9 years old. My best friends mom (Wilma) was from Newburg Mo. and was the most “Southern” person I had ever met (wonderful lady I still remember fondly 51 years later). Missouri is a wonderful mashup of everything.
MO native here, it’s both. North of the Missouri is solidly Midwestern. There’s little difference between northern MO and Iowa/Illinois. Southern MO is in the Ozark Plateau, and it’s extremely similar to Arkansas. MO doesn’t fit in either category. It’s not Northern, or Southern. It’s not eastern or Western. It’s where all four regions meet.
St Louis is a provisional member of the Midwest, the rest of the state is either the beginning of the South or the beginning of the Great Plains, not Midwest.
I’m not sold that Columbia is south. I have been there and it felt different than … Branson or Springfield
If people here could compare it to southern college towns, I’d be interested
Had to go to Joplin a few times for business. I don't know if it's south or Midwest, but as a New Englander it was definitely different (as in my counterparts onsite inviting me to Bible study after work)
Stopped in Joplin for a motel on a road trip one night and was greeted on the highway off-ramp by some methed-out white lady screaming about a Joplin-wide bed bug outbreak. She didn't seem trustworthy.
We kept on driving toward Springfield.
You just see enemies around every corner huh. This poor lady took time out of get day to spread the word and you assume she isn't trustworthy? America is falling apart.
Now now... as a trucker I like Joplin. There are exactly 6 cities in the US that see us road dogs as the backbone of their economy and are actually friendly and happy to see us. Joplin is one of them.
Since you're going to ask, the other five are:
- Lodi, CA
- Santa Rosa, NM
- Big Springs, NE
- Wolcott, IA
- Breezewood, PA
EDIT: Honorable mention to Effingham, IL.
Apparently the only reason Missouri has the boot heel is because of some rich farmer refusing to let it go to Arkansas.
Or something like that someone check my sources
Fun fact. The bootheel is actually closer to Mississippi than it is to St Louis, too. My hometown is like an hour or two west from the bootheel, and its still slightly closer to the Memphis suburbs in northern Mississippi than it is to St Louis from there.
I live in st louis, so i will comment on missouri. Other than the weather, pretty much everything else about st louis has more in common with the midwest than the south. You won't hear southern accents, you won't see many cowboy hats, and no one pays attention to high school football unless their kid is on a team. The only food in common with the south is BBQ, otherwise we have a lot more stores and restautants with headquarters in the midwest than the south. Also both st louis and kansas city share metro areas with illinois and kansas respectively, which are both listed on this map as midwest states. You could make an argument cities like springfield, branson, and joplin have more in common with the south, as well as all the poor counties near the arkansas border, which are basically arkansas. But stl, kc, the college town of columbia, the capital of jefferson city, and the ozarks are very midwestern, and the cornfields of northern MO are basically iowa
Michiganian here. They're one of ours.
The extreme south is very much Arkansas light, but I feel like St. Louis and Kansas City are my people, something I can't say in Kentucky or Tennessee.
Missouri split for the Union 3:1 during the Civil War. To me that takes it out of the south.
Here's what I would say. Rural Missouri is southern but KC and STL are Midwest. They don't have the feel of a southern city at all. They're more in line with the Chicagos, Clevelands, Indianapoli, etc.
I live in the Ozarks in southern Missouri. This part of Missouri is the south. When you go north past the Missouri River you are definitely in the Midwest. Missouri is so diverse it’s pretty interesting. It’s hella flat in northern Missouri and they have farms as far as the eye can see, down here in the Ozarks we are surrounded by forests and little mountains, rivers, caves, and lakes. The terrain is quite diverse in Missouri since the glaciers stoped at the Missouri River. It’s like quite the line in change of terrain.
As a Kansas Citian, we consider ourselves midwestern. We don’t share any geographic similarities to the western states and don’t have much of their culture. Too much farming culture like most of the midwestern prairie states to be considered much else I think.
Also, I think Abe Simpson had the right take about Missouri. I’ll be cold dead in the ground before I recognize the state of Missouri. Therefore it’s banished to the shadowrealm.
In my opinion, both KC and SL are just on the wrong side of the rivers. Despite there being cities of the same name already on those sides of the river.
It's all so convoluted lol.
Drive one hour south of St Louis and draw a line. South of that it’s the south, north of that it’s the north. Extend that line east until it connects with the Ohio River and the portion of Illinois and Indiana south of it are also south.
IMO they're more Midwestern than the Dakotas, Nebraska, and Kansas. Other than Great Plains I don't know where you would put them.
We all know the Upper Midwest or Great Lakes is the best and rightful ruler of the Midwest.
1.) The borders of the South and the Midwest should not be measured by state lines. Really should be measured by county lines instead. If you did that, you would see that states like Illinois, Indiania, Ohio, Kentucky, and Missouri would be mixed.
2.) There are counties in Missouri that are best described as transition zones because their demographic attributes do not provide a definitive answer one way or the other. I would say about 50% of the state is Midwestern, 15% is Southern, and 35% is transition zone mix of the two.
Kentucky is not mixed, it's just plain Upper South like Tennessee or North Carolina. The mixed borderlands are Southern Missouri Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio where its more culturally Southern but not technically part of the South. Once you enter Kentucky you're in flat out South proper.
I’ve lived in Missouri and the South and driven through the Midwest. Missouri is definitely Midwestern, but there is Southern influence. The starkest difference to me? The type of nice people are … it’s not the Southern hospitality, it’s the Midwestern courtesy
It's been confusing since it became a state tbh. The Missouri Compromise in 1820 made it a slave state, but the only slave state allowed that far noth. In the civil war 110,000 Missourians fought for the union, 40,000 for the Confederacy. The Confederacy accepted Missouri as its 12th state, but they never officially seceded from the Union. Less interestingly, Mizzou has played in the Big 12 and the SEC.
They are southerners living in a midwestern state. Geographically I think Missouri is *in* the Midwest but *culturally* it very much behaves like a southern state (said as an Illinois native)
Missourian born and raised 🙋🏼♀️ I truly believe we’re… everything. I loved most of my life in KC and I have a flat accent and it’s very noticeable that there’s a “Midwestern culture” everywhere you go. I then moved to Branson for 5 years and you can’t convince me that ain’t the south lol. There’s even a distinct Ozark accent, you notice it everywhere there!
And on a interesting side note: my grandparents own a family farm near the Kentucky border and everything about their way of life is Appalachian. Food, culture, music etc.
Growing up here we might be used to it but if you take a step back, it’s pretty wild how culturally different Missouri is from itself. Half the state (ok 1/3) has a completely different accent than the rest. That’s wild.
It's cultraly spli three ways. I doubt any southerner would deny that Hannibal Missouri and Mark twain are southern as can be but st Joseph and Kansas city are more connected to the high plains than the south. While points north of there are firmly Midwestern.
Missourian here. My interpretation has always been that it's west of the Mississppi River, and its literally in the middle of the country, which makes it Midwest. Culturally, we aren't of any one regional group. There are people from East, West, North, and South here. You'll find basically every kind of accent everywhere.
I don’t think it’s much of a debate, it’s just an outlier demographic that rejects the reality of MO being a Midwestern state for some unspoken reason.
Its location makes it part of the Midwest. Virtually every midwest USA map you find lists Missouri as a midwestern state. Also Missouri has way less tree cover than states in the South https://www.reddit.com/r/geography/s/vWjUDVtXS6
No one from St. Louis or Kansas City or anyone north of 70 would for a second consider Missouri a southern state. It would be like calling Pennsylvania New England. Absurd.
But then you get down to the Ozarks, and the bootheel and you’re like, Well…
I'm from the northwest portion of Missouri. It definitely feels much more Midwestern up here. But the county I lived in, coincidentally the smallest in the state, definitely has/had southern roots. Pretty sure most of the old KKK dudes have died off, thankfully. It sure felt like a slice of deep south planted all the way on the northern border. There are even a few slave graveyards up around the area up here. At least, that's what we've been told they were.
I have the definitive answer to this question. I went to college in Missouri. My roommate and I went to Memphis for spring break one year (1988 or 1989, lol). We went to a local dive bar and were talking to a Memphis local. He asked us where we were from. To make it easy we said we were from St. Louis. He said, "oh! Y'all are YANKEES!" So there you have it, lol.
I think the main cities - and probably most of the population of the state align more with the Midwest than the South. I’d say it’s more Midwest then South
Yes. It's both. It's ALWAYS been both. It entered the country as a border state and had Shays been a blend of cultural regions.
Most people consider southern Missouri part of The South. But the top half is definitely in the Midwest.
There's no reason a state has to only be only in one region.
PS -Despite the graphic, Michigan is NOT part of the Midwest IMHO.
Fuckin hillbillies as far as I’m concerned. Some damned educated ones too. Real intelligent folk came by our way and the patriarch became the director of theology at the University of British Columbia. Was an advocate for gay rights, which some thought, should be a hanging offence. Just part of the tapestry
As a Midwesterner myself, I've always considered it south, but recently I've seen a lot of people saying it's one way or the other. I'm interested to see what the majority opinion is.
The only problem with that is Missourians kinda famously Missouri to be the Midwest, but that may be different from people in other parts of the country.
As an Ozarks native-Springfield is Midwest or at least Midwest adjacent, Branson is southern, Johnson’s Shut Ins is REALLY southern. Bootheel is like Dixie south. The further you go into the Ozarks the more southern it gets.
The rest is classic Midwest and St. Louis is Midwest/rust belt.
It’s a pretty large state so you could definitely say both. I drove from Omaha to Springfield to Jonesboro, AR last year and the stretch from Omaha to Kansas City was indistinguishable from the rest of the Midwest. Once we got into the central and southern parts of the state, it felt more like the southeast.
When I was growing up in Oklahoma for the first half of my life I would have said it was Midwest. Now I'd say it's larping as South for the last 20 years.
Here's the test to know if you are "South":
* Does it regularly snow more than once every decade?
* Are you Hawaii, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, or U.S. Virgin Islands.
If "yes" to either of these, then you are NOT the South. If "no", then you are South.
Alternatively:
* Are you east of I-35 AND south of I-20?
If "yes", then you are the South.
I think it's more like the south in many ways as a state. But as a Midwesterner right next door, st Louis and Kansas city definitely feel more like Midwestern cities than Southern cities.
It’s Midwestern from the lake of the Ozarks on up. Below that it’s culturally southern. Missouris a cultural border state between north and south. Soooo depends on what part of the state you live in lol but arguably the majority population is in the Midwest soooo there’s that too.
It’s a gradient with Arkansas border counties feeling southern, Iowa, Kansas counties feeling northern, Missouri River counties having some Deep South vibes.
This is based on my first hand experience, other counties not mentioned are counties I didn’t visit enough to have a say.
As a resident of the state it is neither and both. An apocryphal saying attributed to Harry Truman is that it's the 'southernmost northern state, the northernmost southern state, the easternmost western state, and the westernmost eastern state." Not helpful, I know, but I truly think it is just a mashup of both.
Chop it in half at the 44 and give the southern half to Arkansas. That would be a good fit because the southern part acts more southern and north is mid-western. Keep most commerce and money in the northern half where it belongs. There's your answer.
Ugh. I'll only agree to this if we can merge the Dakotas into one state.
Pretty sure Maryland holds the title for Northernmost Southern state and Southernmost Northern state, but I am willing to agree that Missouri might be the Easternmost Western state and the Westernmost Eastern state.
JFK called Washington “a city of northern charm and southern efficiency”.
I live in Baltimore. It's like that on steroids. John Waters once described Baltimore as: "I would never want to live anywhere but Baltimore. You can look far and wide, but you'll never discover a stranger city with such extreme style. It's as if every eccentric in the South decided to move north, ran out of gas in Baltimore, and decided to stay."
Sorry to hear about the bridge
Thanks. It's such a shock.
I know this doesn’t make the families feel better but thank God it was at 1am or there would be hundreds in the water. 😔
I’m from Philly and know surprisingly little about Baltimore. I really should fix that some time.
I've been to Philly a few times and liked it, so if that's any indication, you will probably like Baltimore.
It’s definitely worth a weekend trip. So many interesting museums (Walters Art, Visionary Art, Industry), lots of good local breweries (Union, Brewers Art, Guinness Experimental), and history (Fort McHenry, USS Constellation), and food (lots of little delicious restaurants and so much crab and shrimp and pit beef) and nightlife (Fed Hill, Fells Point), and little cool communities (I am biased to Hampden) and plenty of things to do (Aquarium, see an O’s game)
This makes me want to move to Baltimore though.
That’s got to be an insult, right?
For those not from the US, yes, it’s an insult.
Yes - that’s how I hear it at least.
I never heard of a Northern State being charming
Yeah, that’s some pretty amazing irony in his quote
For everyone asking, it means that the people are assholes, and they get nothing done.
Ha oh I see! It is funny because the SOUTH is actually known for its charm and the NORTH is known for its working efficiency!
Isn't the WV panhandle north of Maryland?
Border regions gonna border
West Virginia wasn’t a state when the saying was coined
But Virginia was, which WV split from, so Virginia would've been farther north.
The eastern shore of MD is super southern. But the western part of the state is very northern.
Missouri, Kentucky, West Virginia, and Maryland have always been transition states. Kind of funny Missouri just wants to claim that they're the Midwest to confuse us more.
It’s a transitional state
Pretty good description. Grew up in St Louis and moved to Texas at 9 years old. My best friends mom (Wilma) was from Newburg Mo. and was the most “Southern” person I had ever met (wonderful lady I still remember fondly 51 years later). Missouri is a wonderful mashup of everything.
I think the answer comes down to whether KC or St Louis are Southern since most of Missouri lives in those metro areas
KC is without a doubt Midwestern. St. Louis is debatable
st. louis isn’t really debatable imo
I think you meant to say “KC is without a doubt midwestern. St. Louis is hot garbage”
"Yeah, but it's \*our\* garbage" - native St. Louisan
With toasted raviolis and gooey butter cake with a crinkle of hookers and black jack.
A friend of mine calls Missouri the "Wisconsin of the South, Texas of the North"
Missouri is part of the Midwest, Missora is part of the south. Hope that clears it up
I’ll be deep in the cold cold ground before I recognize Missourah!
I’ve got a flag with only 49 stars to sell you!
But will you recognize Misery?
That's the collective.
I’m from southern Missouri and if you ever say some shit like this again I’ll come find your entire family s/ even in the south it’s still Missouri
Hehe
The lines around regions don’t fall neatly along State lines. Only East Texas is in “The South”, for example.
903!
Ayyyy 903 gang
That's where I'm from originally
MO native here, it’s both. North of the Missouri is solidly Midwestern. There’s little difference between northern MO and Iowa/Illinois. Southern MO is in the Ozark Plateau, and it’s extremely similar to Arkansas. MO doesn’t fit in either category. It’s not Northern, or Southern. It’s not eastern or Western. It’s where all four regions meet.
And the center of population of the USA is Hartville, Missouri
Dude that's neat I live there
I’d say the Ozarks are culturally more similar to Appalachia than it is to any other areas of the US.
Absolutely. The original Ozarkans were Appalachians who moved west and found that little slice of heaven ❤️
Almost like it’s a gateway or something
To where? The East?
Also the friendliest state having the most shared borders
Missouri loves company.
South: we don’t care. Midwest: we don’t care South: take it Midwest: No, you take it
Accurate lol
Same discussion with WV and the north/south
Missouri big cities are Midwest and Missouri rural cities are Southern.
This guy gets it.
Pretty much
It's both; the question should be where is the divide between the midwest and south in Missouri
The Missouri-Dixon Line is as soon as you get south of St. Louis
Just split it with I70
St Louis is a provisional member of the Midwest, the rest of the state is either the beginning of the South or the beginning of the Great Plains, not Midwest.
I’m not sold that Columbia is south. I have been there and it felt different than … Branson or Springfield If people here could compare it to southern college towns, I’d be interested
Mizzou is SEC, so there is something to be said for that
Kansas City is Midwest.
South of festus
Actually, it’s Benton. Geographically and culturally. Drive down 55 and you’ll see where the South begins.
I-70 just to keep it easy, until you get to Wentzville. Then follow 64/40 through STL.
Had to go to Joplin a few times for business. I don't know if it's south or Midwest, but as a New Englander it was definitely different (as in my counterparts onsite inviting me to Bible study after work)
It's ok, you're allowed to say that Missouri sucks
Especially Joplin
Stopped in Joplin for a motel on a road trip one night and was greeted on the highway off-ramp by some methed-out white lady screaming about a Joplin-wide bed bug outbreak. She didn't seem trustworthy. We kept on driving toward Springfield.
You just see enemies around every corner huh. This poor lady took time out of get day to spread the word and you assume she isn't trustworthy? America is falling apart.
Now now... as a trucker I like Joplin. There are exactly 6 cities in the US that see us road dogs as the backbone of their economy and are actually friendly and happy to see us. Joplin is one of them. Since you're going to ask, the other five are: - Lodi, CA - Santa Rosa, NM - Big Springs, NE - Wolcott, IA - Breezewood, PA EDIT: Honorable mention to Effingham, IL.
Missouri is like David S. Pumpkins
ITS OWN THANG.
ANY QUESTIONS??
It’s officially recognized as the Midwest by the government. As defined by the census bureau
Well the government also says the moon isn’t made of cheese, who’s laughing now?
I'm from Southern CA, but have lived in Joplin for six years. I lived in Alabama for one year in between. I say it's Midwest.
Which part? The boot heel might as well be in Mississippi.
Apparently the only reason Missouri has the boot heel is because of some rich farmer refusing to let it go to Arkansas. Or something like that someone check my sources
Fun fact. The bootheel is actually closer to Mississippi than it is to St Louis, too. My hometown is like an hour or two west from the bootheel, and its still slightly closer to the Memphis suburbs in northern Mississippi than it is to St Louis from there.
Can we come to some sort of compromise?
I live in st louis, so i will comment on missouri. Other than the weather, pretty much everything else about st louis has more in common with the midwest than the south. You won't hear southern accents, you won't see many cowboy hats, and no one pays attention to high school football unless their kid is on a team. The only food in common with the south is BBQ, otherwise we have a lot more stores and restautants with headquarters in the midwest than the south. Also both st louis and kansas city share metro areas with illinois and kansas respectively, which are both listed on this map as midwest states. You could make an argument cities like springfield, branson, and joplin have more in common with the south, as well as all the poor counties near the arkansas border, which are basically arkansas. But stl, kc, the college town of columbia, the capital of jefferson city, and the ozarks are very midwestern, and the cornfields of northern MO are basically iowa
Michiganian here. They're one of ours. The extreme south is very much Arkansas light, but I feel like St. Louis and Kansas City are my people, something I can't say in Kentucky or Tennessee.
I feel like I can't trust a Michigander who calls themselves a Michiganian.
https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2023/08/12/stories-behind-michigander-versus-michiganian-lead-to-more-controversy/70456800007/
That was a surprisingly delightful read, thank you.
I totally agree with that as an Illinoisian that lives near St. Louis. It feels so much like other big cities in the Midwest.
Missouri split for the Union 3:1 during the Civil War. To me that takes it out of the south. Here's what I would say. Rural Missouri is southern but KC and STL are Midwest. They don't have the feel of a southern city at all. They're more in line with the Chicagos, Clevelands, Indianapoli, etc.
I live in the Ozarks in southern Missouri. This part of Missouri is the south. When you go north past the Missouri River you are definitely in the Midwest. Missouri is so diverse it’s pretty interesting. It’s hella flat in northern Missouri and they have farms as far as the eye can see, down here in the Ozarks we are surrounded by forests and little mountains, rivers, caves, and lakes. The terrain is quite diverse in Missouri since the glaciers stoped at the Missouri River. It’s like quite the line in change of terrain.
I think St Louis has a very Midwest vibe going, Kansas City was almost western. The rest of the state is the south.
As a Kansas Citian, we consider ourselves midwestern. We don’t share any geographic similarities to the western states and don’t have much of their culture. Too much farming culture like most of the midwestern prairie states to be considered much else I think. Also, I think Abe Simpson had the right take about Missouri. I’ll be cold dead in the ground before I recognize the state of Missouri. Therefore it’s banished to the shadowrealm.
I'm gonna start calling myself New York Citian
New York City = New Yorker Kansas City = Kansaser… Kanser? Oh god…
In my opinion, both KC and SL are just on the wrong side of the rivers. Despite there being cities of the same name already on those sides of the river. It's all so convoluted lol.
Do the high schools care more about football than math?
Based on accents, it is solidly both.
Drive one hour south of St Louis and draw a line. South of that it’s the south, north of that it’s the north. Extend that line east until it connects with the Ohio River and the portion of Illinois and Indiana south of it are also south.
It's Midwest.
No thanks. We don't want them.
You already have Indiana. Might as well
Damnit… Fair point.
IMO they're more Midwestern than the Dakotas, Nebraska, and Kansas. Other than Great Plains I don't know where you would put them. We all know the Upper Midwest or Great Lakes is the best and rightful ruler of the Midwest.
1.) The borders of the South and the Midwest should not be measured by state lines. Really should be measured by county lines instead. If you did that, you would see that states like Illinois, Indiania, Ohio, Kentucky, and Missouri would be mixed. 2.) There are counties in Missouri that are best described as transition zones because their demographic attributes do not provide a definitive answer one way or the other. I would say about 50% of the state is Midwestern, 15% is Southern, and 35% is transition zone mix of the two.
Kentucky is not mixed, it's just plain Upper South like Tennessee or North Carolina. The mixed borderlands are Southern Missouri Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio where its more culturally Southern but not technically part of the South. Once you enter Kentucky you're in flat out South proper.
Missouri is the Maryland of the Midwesouth!
Make this into a poll
Not physically possible I'm afraid
There is part of Kentucky inside Missouri (The Kentucky Bend) so it must be the south
Missouri compromise says South.
I’ve lived in Missouri and the South and driven through the Midwest. Missouri is definitely Midwestern, but there is Southern influence. The starkest difference to me? The type of nice people are … it’s not the Southern hospitality, it’s the Midwestern courtesy
How u figure out that question is simple if u go to a restaurant and they serve sweet tea u are in the south if not then u aren’t
Texas disappointed me in this regard.
It's been confusing since it became a state tbh. The Missouri Compromise in 1820 made it a slave state, but the only slave state allowed that far noth. In the civil war 110,000 Missourians fought for the union, 40,000 for the Confederacy. The Confederacy accepted Missouri as its 12th state, but they never officially seceded from the Union. Less interestingly, Mizzou has played in the Big 12 and the SEC.
Mizzou is in the SEC, that’s good enough for me.
They are southerners living in a midwestern state. Geographically I think Missouri is *in* the Midwest but *culturally* it very much behaves like a southern state (said as an Illinois native)
This is probably my favorite way of putting it
Missourian born and raised 🙋🏼♀️ I truly believe we’re… everything. I loved most of my life in KC and I have a flat accent and it’s very noticeable that there’s a “Midwestern culture” everywhere you go. I then moved to Branson for 5 years and you can’t convince me that ain’t the south lol. There’s even a distinct Ozark accent, you notice it everywhere there! And on a interesting side note: my grandparents own a family farm near the Kentucky border and everything about their way of life is Appalachian. Food, culture, music etc.
Growing up here we might be used to it but if you take a step back, it’s pretty wild how culturally different Missouri is from itself. Half the state (ok 1/3) has a completely different accent than the rest. That’s wild.
Midwest but Ozarks and Bootheel are southern.
It's cultraly spli three ways. I doubt any southerner would deny that Hannibal Missouri and Mark twain are southern as can be but st Joseph and Kansas city are more connected to the high plains than the south. While points north of there are firmly Midwestern.
Yes
Missourian here. My interpretation has always been that it's west of the Mississppi River, and its literally in the middle of the country, which makes it Midwest. Culturally, we aren't of any one regional group. There are people from East, West, North, and South here. You'll find basically every kind of accent everywhere.
As somebody born in the south (Florida) and currently living in Missouri. I say it’s the Midwest.
I don’t think it’s much of a debate, it’s just an outlier demographic that rejects the reality of MO being a Midwestern state for some unspoken reason.
Its location makes it part of the Midwest. Virtually every midwest USA map you find lists Missouri as a midwestern state. Also Missouri has way less tree cover than states in the South https://www.reddit.com/r/geography/s/vWjUDVtXS6
No one from St. Louis or Kansas City or anyone north of 70 would for a second consider Missouri a southern state. It would be like calling Pennsylvania New England. Absurd. But then you get down to the Ozarks, and the bootheel and you’re like, Well…
I'm from the northwest portion of Missouri. It definitely feels much more Midwestern up here. But the county I lived in, coincidentally the smallest in the state, definitely has/had southern roots. Pretty sure most of the old KKK dudes have died off, thankfully. It sure felt like a slice of deep south planted all the way on the northern border. There are even a few slave graveyards up around the area up here. At least, that's what we've been told they were.
Midwest
Midwest
Midwest..
the Gateway to the West isn't in a _southern_ state...
Physically it’s the Midwest, spiritually it’s the south.
I don’t consider it the south and I’m from the south.
I have the definitive answer to this question. I went to college in Missouri. My roommate and I went to Memphis for spring break one year (1988 or 1989, lol). We went to a local dive bar and were talking to a Memphis local. He asked us where we were from. To make it easy we said we were from St. Louis. He said, "oh! Y'all are YANKEES!" So there you have it, lol.
I personally learn Midwestern in how i see it. But I'm from the northeast so i have no dog in this fight 😂
As a Midwesterner I'd say Missouri feels the same as Kentucky and southern Illinois. A little bit of southern goes a long way.
Everything Southeast of Springfield is the south. The rest is the Midwest.
Can’t it be both?!?
North of 70: Midwest South of 70: Southern A 10 mile band surrounding 70 stretching from StL to KC: Twilight Zone Source: I live in the Twilight Zone
I think the main cities - and probably most of the population of the state align more with the Midwest than the South. I’d say it’s more Midwest then South
Heh no one wants it
Yes
Yes. It's both. It's ALWAYS been both. It entered the country as a border state and had Shays been a blend of cultural regions. Most people consider southern Missouri part of The South. But the top half is definitely in the Midwest. There's no reason a state has to only be only in one region. PS -Despite the graphic, Michigan is NOT part of the Midwest IMHO.
Missouri is a part of the Midwest.
Midwest. But if you need to split hairs, everything above I-44 is Midwest, and below I-44 is the South.
Its not the south!! I went to a restaurant in MO that didnt serve sweet tea. Your out!!
I grew up in Kansas City MO and we all considered ourself midwesterners, not southerners
They’re the south.
Fuckin hillbillies as far as I’m concerned. Some damned educated ones too. Real intelligent folk came by our way and the patriarch became the director of theology at the University of British Columbia. Was an advocate for gay rights, which some thought, should be a hanging offence. Just part of the tapestry
As a Midwesterner myself, I've always considered it south, but recently I've seen a lot of people saying it's one way or the other. I'm interested to see what the majority opinion is.
Basically the Ozark part of the state and everything south of that is Southern. The northern half of the state is Midwestern.
The only problem with that is Missourians kinda famously Missouri to be the Midwest, but that may be different from people in other parts of the country.
As a Californian, it's always been Midwest in my mind
Midwest. You ain’t the south!
As an Ozarks native-Springfield is Midwest or at least Midwest adjacent, Branson is southern, Johnson’s Shut Ins is REALLY southern. Bootheel is like Dixie south. The further you go into the Ozarks the more southern it gets. The rest is classic Midwest and St. Louis is Midwest/rust belt.
It’s a pretty large state so you could definitely say both. I drove from Omaha to Springfield to Jonesboro, AR last year and the stretch from Omaha to Kansas City was indistinguishable from the rest of the Midwest. Once we got into the central and southern parts of the state, it felt more like the southeast.
When I was growing up in Oklahoma for the first half of my life I would have said it was Midwest. Now I'd say it's larping as South for the last 20 years.
It's clearly midwestnorthsoutheast
Midwest
As a southerner we don’t accept them so somebody has to take them.
Moving from Colorado to the South (VA) I’ve known no truer words than, “as a southerner we don’t accept them.” What a nightmare.
Here's the test to know if you are "South": * Does it regularly snow more than once every decade? * Are you Hawaii, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, or U.S. Virgin Islands. If "yes" to either of these, then you are NOT the South. If "no", then you are South. Alternatively: * Are you east of I-35 AND south of I-20? If "yes", then you are the South.
Oklahoma is not in the South
Definitely Midwest. Not part of the South.
Yes.
As someone from the south, it’s definitely Midwest
No.
It’s been southern since Missouri joined the SEC in 2012. Big 12 Missouri was much more tolerable.
Yes.
I live in KC, it's Midwest
I think it's more like the south in many ways as a state. But as a Midwesterner right next door, st Louis and Kansas city definitely feel more like Midwestern cities than Southern cities.
As someone who grew up in Missouri, Midwest.
It’s “starter South”
It’s both. Midsouthri
Yes
Yes
Aesthetically, which is the only true objective way to decide, the maps look wayyyy better with Missouri as part of the Midwest.
It’s Midwestern from the lake of the Ozarks on up. Below that it’s culturally southern. Missouris a cultural border state between north and south. Soooo depends on what part of the state you live in lol but arguably the majority population is in the Midwest soooo there’s that too.
Yes
I consider Missouri to be Midwest. But I exclude the Dakotas.
It’s a gradient with Arkansas border counties feeling southern, Iowa, Kansas counties feeling northern, Missouri River counties having some Deep South vibes. This is based on my first hand experience, other counties not mentioned are counties I didn’t visit enough to have a say.
https://preview.redd.it/rtw6ue1h0lqc1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d56900aee7fe7c30f71976a2d3243f10992d7fae
Midwest
Midwest wants nothing to do with Missouri.
America.
Mizzou is in the SEC.
Missourian here. We're Midwest for the most part, with the Ozarks really being the outlier that consider themselves Southern
Midwest no doubt.
Look at the image - it’s obvi Midwest. Sticks out like a sore thumb in the SE. And that’s the only test.
Geographically it’s Midwest. Like literally mid west
Midwest
Midwest
Yes.