How do you define the Midwest?

[hbelkins]

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.

I was going to mention that. And the conferences were assigned specific slots in each region. The SEC, the Big 10, the Ohio Valley Conference were all assigned to the Mideast Region. (Plus Notre Dame, if they got an invitation). I'm not sure if the Missouri Valley Conference was assigned to the Mideast or Midwest.

But that was back in the 1970s.

[Scott5114]

Everyone is wrong.

The thread title is "How Do You Define the Midwest?" so anybody who provides their own definition has answered the question correctly.

Nah.  All are wrong.

Here is one that is demonstrably correct:

#define MIDWEST 1

[wriddle082]

Everyone is wrong.

The thread title is "How Do You Define the Midwest?" so anybody who provides their own definition has answered the question correctly.

Nah.  All are wrong.

Then tell us what is correct already!  The suspense is killing me!

[wriddle082]

Any state with a Big 10 school excepting NJ (Rutgers) and the former PAC 12 schools, but adding Missouri.  So I even count Pennsylvania (at least the western half), because they're about to get Meijer and possibly Menard's as well if they'd just break ground on their planned locations already.

This puts Missouri and Nebraska in the Midwest but not Kansas, which feels wrong. Kansas is a central state that grows food crops and was firmly on the Union's side during the Civil War (unlike slave state Missouri), so it's Midwestern to me.

Ok I will clarify further...

No Nebraska either.  I would consider Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakotas to be defined as Great Plains states, which do have their differences from the core Midwestern states I had previously defined.

In hindsight, I suppose using college sports conferences was a poor method of comparison (thanks, NIL!).

Anyway, as a Southerner who has been sent to Midwestern states on and off for the past two or three years for work, I know when I'm in one based on the personalities of the locals.  Ohio (where I've been working a good majority of this year) is nearly all Midwestern, exceptions being most WV border areas.  Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Iowa, and Missouri, all very much Midwestern (and most of which I have worked in and spent enough time in).  NW Pennsylvania could possibly be considered Midwestern, or at least a Rust Belt extension thereof.  Buffalo too, though they would never admit it.  I feel like the people of NW PA and Buffalo have similar ideals to Midwesterners.

So Kansas City, Missouri is in the Midwest, but Kansas City, Kansas is not?

Sure, why not?  Those two states hate each other with a passion anyway.