How do you define the Midwest?

[Roadgeekteen]

If Michigan and Ohio aren't Midwest, what region are they in?

[vdeane]

Having lived in Illinois and Kansas my whole life, and never once thinking of either state as anything but the Midwest, I didn't even know Michigan and Ohio were considered Midwestern states until I has in high school.  I assumed the region began somewhere around Indiana.

When you think of the Midwest, you think of population centers being closer together, where you can't simply drive through farmland for hours on end before reaching another major city.  It surprised you to learn that there are places in the Midwest that don't conform to that conceptualization.

When I think of the Midwest, I think of population centers being farther apart, where you can drive through farmlands for hours on end before reaching another major city.  It surprised me to learn that there are places in the Midwest that don't conform to that conceptualization.

I think another thing that might have shaped my perception is the old "Midwest/Great Lakes" board on the forum, since the rest of it is "Central States".  Even now, my brain still uses the old name for the board, despite Kentucky being merged in to make it "Great Lakes and Ohio Valley".

[Rothman]

National Geographic shaped my sense of United States regions as we had a set of paper maps that divided Great Plains from the Midwest.  So as NatGeo wrote, so as NatGeo does...

[JayhawkCO]

Would you also describe Dodge City as less western or cowboy in feel, with a lower percentage of country music listenership, than Oklahoma City?

It's a bit apples and oranges. Dodge City is not a large city, and I would always put any rural area in this part of the country as a higher western/cowboy feel with more people listening to country. This would apply in other Midwestern states as well.

[JayhawkCO]

If Michigan and Ohio aren't Midwest, what region are they in?

I had it in my head as a kid that there was kind of a Mideast region too, that included Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, western Pennsylvania. They weren't quite Midwest, but weren't obviously East Coast either.

[kphoger]

If Michigan and Ohio aren't Midwest, what region are they in?

I never said they aren't.  I just said I didn't realize it till I was in high school.

Honestly, this forum would have been my first exposure to Ohio's being part of the Midwest if I hadn't listened to Riders in the Sky on public radio back then.  They used to sign off their shows with the line, "recorded live at the historic Emory Theater in the Queen City of the West:  Cin---cin---nati, Ohio!"

Then again, my road trip experience growing up was entirely west of Chicago.

[kphoger]

I had it in my head as a kid that there was kind of a Mideast region too, that included Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, western Pennsylvania. They weren't quite Midwest, but weren't obviously East Coast either.

I don't remember consciously asking myself what region those states were in, but I think it was similar for me.  At the very least, I could not conceptualize the "Midwest" as including anything much farther east than Illinois and Indiana.  After all, Chicago is only one-third of the way (degrees longitude) between Boston and San Francisco.  Cleveland is only one-fifth of the way.  I never really asked myself what region places like Ohio and Michigan were in, but I just had a general sense that states bordering Lake Erie and Lake Ontario must form some sort of region on their own.  But, as I said, I hadn't traveled in that region, so it never really mattered to me to label it.

[freebrickproductions]

National Geographic shaped my sense of United States regions as we had a set of paper maps that divided Great Plains from the Midwest.  So as NatGeo wrote, so as NatGeo does...

I think that largely influences how I divide the Midwest as well, lol.

[kphoger]

For what it's worth, I think that a region's having a direction as part of its name influences my conceptualization of that region quite a bit.

It's why I simply cannot think of Peru and La Salle as being in "downstate Illinois".  It's why I remember rolling my eyes years ago when I overheard my mom telling someone in Kansas City that we lived in western Kansas and she responded with "Oh, you mean, like, Salina?"  So any definition of "the Midwest" that excludes Kansas—the state in the middle of the country—is just nonsensical to me from the start.

[Roadgeekteen]

If Michigan and Ohio aren't Midwest, what region are they in?

I had it in my head as a kid that there was kind of a Mideast region too, that included Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, western Pennsylvania. They weren't quite Midwest, but weren't obviously East Coast either.

I have never heard of a mideast region being used in any situation. My opinion, if they say pop its Midwest.

[kphoger]

I had it in my head as a kid

I have never heard of a mideast region

Were you otherwise typically able to hear inside Chris's childhood head?

My opinion, if they say pop its Midwest.

So, Yakima is in the Midwest but Saint Louis is not?

[JayhawkCO]

My opinion, if they say pop its Midwest.

So, Yakima is in the Midwest but Saint Louis is not?

Kotzebue, Alaska is definitely the Midwest.

[Roadgeekteen]

I am aware that it makes sense to have a mideast region, but it isn't really used. I guess what I can say is that the eastern pop soda line in the east in PA/NY can be used as the definer of the eastern border of the Midwest.

[kphoger]

I am aware that it makes sense to have a mideast region, but it isn't really used.

Literally nobody on here ever said it is.

[Roadgeekteen]

I am aware that it makes sense to have a mideast region, but it isn't really used.

Literally nobody on here ever said it is.

Fair enough, though I'm still wondering what region Ohio and Michigan are in for people that don't consider them midwest.

[JayhawkCO]

I am aware that it makes sense to have a mideast region, but it isn't really used.

Literally nobody on here ever said it is.

Fair enough, though I'm still wondering what region Ohio and Michigan are in for people that don't consider them midwest.

They probably say "Great Lakes".

[Roadgeekteen]

I am aware that it makes sense to have a mideast region, but it isn't really used.

Literally nobody on here ever said it is.

Fair enough, though I'm still wondering what region Ohio and Michigan are in for people that don't consider them midwest.

They probably say "Great Lakes".

Fair enough, though it is interesting where the west end of Great Lakes and east end of Midwest is. Like Chicago/Milwaukee area.

[kphoger]

I'm still wondering what region Ohio and Michigan are in for people that don't consider them midwest.

Did someone on here say that they don't?

[Roadgeekteen]

I'm still wondering what region Ohio and Michigan are in for people that don't consider them midwest.

Did someone on here say that they don't?

Michigan - 86%
Ohio - 78%

So I think it's more your perception being a little skewed of "what Midwest is" than anything.

Apparently, a fair number of people in the states do.

[freebrickproductions]

IIRC, didn't the term "midwest" come about because places like Indiana were originally considered to be part of the "western" US prior to the US manifest destiny-ing itself to the Pacific Ocean?

[vdeane]

I have never heard of a mideast region being used in any situation.

So... where's Syria, then?

[Big John]

If Michigan and Ohio aren't Midwest, what region are they in?

I had it in my head as a kid that there was kind of a Mideast region too, that included Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, western Pennsylvania. They weren't quite Midwest, but weren't obviously East Coast either.

I have never heard of a mideast region being used in any situation. My opinion, if they say pop its Midwest.

In the NCAA t6ournament, there was a mideast region, since replaced with the south region.

[Roadgeekteen]

I have never heard of a mideast region being used in any situation.

So... where's Syria, then?

Middle East or Near East.

[kphoger]

I'm still wondering what region Ohio and Michigan are in for people that don't consider them midwest.

Did someone on here say that they don't?

Michigan - 86%
Ohio - 78%

So I think it's more your perception being a little skewed of "what Midwest is" than anything.

Apparently, a fair number of people in the states do.

Well, then, two questions for you:

1.  Do you consider the U.P. to be part of the Midwest?  Granted, that's only about 3% of the state's population, but I could certainly understand if people in the northern portion of the mitten don't think of themselves as Midwestern either.  (I haven't looked at the granular map in a while, so I don't know if that's what's going on.)

2.  Do you think it would be crazy for someone in Cincinnati to think of their hometown as being part of the South instead?  Or someone in Youngstown to think of theirs as being part of the Mid-Atlantic or the Northeast?  Maybe both are a bit of a stretch, but surely not so big a stretch as to be beyond your imagination, right?

[Roadgeekteen]

I'm still wondering what region Ohio and Michigan are in for people that don't consider them midwest.

Did someone on here say that they don't?

Michigan - 86%
Ohio - 78%

So I think it's more your perception being a little skewed of "what Midwest is" than anything.

Apparently, a fair number of people in the states do.

Well, then, two questions for you:

1.  Do you consider the U.P. to be part of the Midwest?  Granted, that's only about 3% of the state's population, but I could certainly understand if people in the northern portion of the mitten don't think of themselves as Midwestern either.  (I haven't looked at the granular map in a while, so I don't know if that's what's going on.)

2.  Do you think it would be crazy for someone in Cincinnati to think of their hometown as being part of the South instead?  Or someone in Youngstown to think of theirs as being part of the Mid-Atlantic or the Northeast?  Maybe both are a bit of a stretch, but surely not so big a stretch as to be beyond your imagination, right?

For Youngstown, I do think that Midwest identity bleeds more into Pennsylvania than Northeast into Ohio. Same with the Midwest influence bleeding into Kentucky for Cincinnati.