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[thenetwork]

Looking at a national or regional map, most people (myself included) will refer to areas of a state by cardinal direction (Northern Illinois, Southeastern Michigan,...) or by a specific region (Upper Midwest, Pacific Northwest,...) which covers a broad portion of a state or region. Most people would label my area of the country as Western Colorado. 

In a lot of these areas, the locals will call their part of the state by a more specific name that describes their area, but most outsiders won't know it by that. 

For Example:

AREA:                   OUTSIDERS CALL IT:             LOCALS CALL IT:

Cincinnati, OH        SW Ohio                               The Tri State
Cleveland, OH        NE Ohio                                The North Coast
Chicago, IL            Northern / Northeast IL          Chicagoland
Cortez/Durango     SW Colorado                          The Four Corners Region
Grand Jct, CO        Western CO                           The Western Slope
Los Angeles           Southern California                 The Southland

What do you and your local area residents call your part of the state that might not otherwise be well known to visitors / outsiders?

[freebrickproductions]

Area: The counties that border the Tennessee River
Outsiders Call It: Alabama/Northern Alabama
Locals Call It: The Tennessee Valley

Area: The Florence/Muscle Shoals/Sheffield/Tuscumbia, AL area
Outsiders Call It: NW Alabama
Locals Call It: The Shoals.

[theline]

Extreme north central Indiana (South Bend, Elkhart, etc.) and extreme southwest lower Michigan (Niles, St. Joseph, Cassopolis, etc.) is called Michiana by locals.

Northwestern Indiana, basically Lake and Porter counties, is called the Calumet Region for the Calumet River. That is most often shortened to The Region by residents of the area. Denizens of The Region are not always kindly referred to as Region Rats.

The Region plus the adjacent part of Illinois is referred to as Illiana.

And of course the greater Chicago metro area is called Chicagoland.

[The Nature Boy]

I live in the Augusta, Maine area, I'm not sure if outsiders have a name for it but it's locally called "Central Maine" (despite not really being central within the state).

[7/8]

For Kitchener-Waterloo, locals would call it KW. If Cambridge is included, then locals will say "the tri-city area". I'm guessing outsiders would probably say Waterloo Region.

Cambridge was formed in 1973 by amalgamating Galt, Preston, Hespeler, and Blair. Locals still refer to the old town names, while outsiders only refer to "Cambridge".

For the Toronto metro area, locals call it the GTA (Greater Toronto Area). I'm guessing outsiders would just call the whole area "Toronto".

I feel like I have to post this...

[Flint1979]

Mid-Michigan pretty much is what locals call it. An outsider would probably call it Central Michigan most likely. Locals call Saginaw, Midland and Bay City the Tri-Cities.

The Detroit area is a mix of Metro Detroit and Southeastern Michigan.

[JJBers]

Hartford and Springfield, MA area
Outsiders call it Northern CT and Southeastern MA
Locals call it the Connecticut River Valley

[sparker]

Most San Jose locals seem to be too self-effacing to call themselves anything; the most common term -- heard most often on news broadcasts, San Jose based or not, is "the South Bay", which takes in pretty much everything from Sunnyvale southeast to the farthest south outreaches of San Jose (and some even include Morgan Hill and Gilroy). 

Outsiders tend to refer to it as either San Jose itself or, occasionally, the now-ancient monicker "Silicon Valley" (go down to L.A. and listen to a news broadcast -- and if the area is mentioned, the SV term often is applied).  Use the term colloquially up here in conversation, and the response will either be rolling eyes or a grimace!

[The Nature Boy]

Hartford and Springfield, MA area
Outsiders call it Northern CT and Southeastern MA
Locals call it the Connecticut River Valley

You'll occasionally hear the "Connecticut River Valley" used to refer to the Lebanon, NH/White River Junction, VT area as well. The preferred term locally is "Upper Valley."

[epzik8]

Harford County, Maryland is part of the Baltimore Metro Area, or Northeast Maryland.

[1]

I live in the Merrimack Valley, and I would live in the North Shore if I was closer to the ocean. Outsiders would probably call this whole area Northeastern Massachusetts, which is a larger area.

[Rothman]

I don't think anyone refers to Springfield as "southeastern MA."

Here in Albany, it's the "Capital District" or you say you are from the city you are in (Albany, Schenectady, Troy).  If you are in a suburb, you say the "Albany area" to outsiders.

[LM117]

Southside VA here or on a lesser scale, the Dan River region. When I was growing up in eastern NC, it was usually referred to as "eastern Carolina", sans "North".

[froggie]

Hartford and Springfield, MA area
Outsiders call it Northern CT and Southeastern MA
Locals call it the Connecticut River Valley

You'll occasionally hear the "Connecticut River Valley" used to refer to the Lebanon, NH/White River Junction, VT area as well. The preferred term locally is "Upper Valley."

Keeping in mind that "the Upper Valley" extends pretty much the entire length of the VT/NH border.

A few more:

- The "Northeast Kingdom" of Vermont, where I live, is both a common name for the region and is actually codified in state law as encompassing Caledonia, Essex, and Orleans Counties.

- The "Champlain Valley" in Vermont refers to the area between Lake Champlain and the spine of the Green Mountains, including Burlington.  I do not know if the term is also used on the New York side of the lake, or how far it would extend there.

- Several local terms for the Hampton Roads, VA area.  "Tidewater" is an occasionally heard term.  Going into more detail, there's "the Peninsula" (Hampton, Newport News, and other locales north of the James River), and "Southside", which is everything south of the James River (i.e. Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Suffolk).

- In Minnesota, both "the 'Cities" and "the Metro" refer to the Twin Cities metropolitan area.  Everything else in Minnesota is "Outstate".

- Also in Minnesota, there's "the Arrowhead Region" generally covering St. Louis, Lake, and Cook Counties (effectively everything east of US 53).  "Bluff Country" refers to the bluffs in southeastern Minnesota, generally east and southeast of Rochester.  "The Iron Range" is a stretch of northeastern Minnesota best known for iron ore and taconite mining, generally running from Crosby to Grand Rapids to Ely and southeast to Lake Superior, but with a modern-day focus on the Hibbing/Virginia/Eveleth area.

- Lastly, in local/advertising/food industry folklore, the "Valley of the Jolly Green Giant" primarily refers to the Minnesota River Valley in the vicinity of Le Sueur, MN.

[Henry]

I have a few more examples:
*New York City is part of the Tri-State area, when you factor in NJ and CT.
*Washington, DC is part of the DMV, for DC-MD-VA.
*Pittsburgh and Philadelphia are part of Western PA and Eastern PA, respectively, with South added to better reflect their actual locations in the state.
*San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose are all part of the Bay Area.
*Seattle is part of the Sea-Tac area, which of course also includes Tacoma.

[froggie]

*Washington, DC is part of the DMV, for DC-MD-VA.

As a recent former resident, I'll mention that this one is not used often.   A lot of people scorn its use for the region in no small part because of the "lackluster" reputation that the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) has.

[SP Cook]

West Virginia has no truly well defined regions.  In my area, the areas more focused on the Huntington-Ashland-Ironton region is "the Tri-State", while the area more focused on Charleston is "the Kanawha Valley", with the understanding that that means only the immediate Charleston area and not the geographical entire valley.  There is not really universal name for two combined.  They have tried to use "the Advantage Valley" but that is just some marketing deal, nobody really says that.  Northern West Virginians say "southern WV" to include Huntington and Charleston, but people here would not consider this southern WV, but rather that is the coal producing area further south.  TV weathermen will generally divide the market into "the Tri-State", "the Kanawha Valley", "the Kentucky Coalfields", "the WV Coalfields" and "southern Ohio". 

As to the rest of the state, people around Parkersburg say "Mid-Ohio Valley" for both sides of the river, which is only true if you are only talking about WV.  Nobody non-local would say that.   The norhern panhandle is the most universal term in the state, of course.  Southern WV is usually divided as "the coalfield" meaning the SW, and "the Greenbrier valley" (which is bigger than the geographic Greenbrier valley") meaning the SE.  People in Bluefield say "the two Virginias" for their area.  The eastern panhandle generally divides into "the Potomac Highlands" and the 3 prosperous DC centered counties, which can sometimes be "the eastern panhandle" by theirselves, excluding the Potomac Highlands.   North Central WV is usually just that "north central WV" of "Fairmont-Clarksburg-Morgantown" (always in that order which is not correct geographically or populationally). 

[bzakharin]

"Delaware Valley", "Greater Philadelphia", "The Tristate", "Exit 4". Take your pick. "South Jersey" usually by northerners. The further south you live the further south the dividing line(s) tend to be. If you're from Philly, it's easily just "New Jersey" because they don't care about any parts of NJ that aren't part of their region unless it's "down the shore" (which is where I work).

[Ian]

I live in the Augusta, Maine area, I'm not sure if outsiders have a name for it but it's locally called "Central Maine" (despite not really being central within the state).

Similarly, I've heard of Bangor being part of "Eastern Maine" (both the Eastern Maine Medical Center and the Eastern Maine Community College are located here). Geographically, it's more toward the center of the state, but I can see how it makes sense. There aren't many towns east of here...

[Takumi]

Central Virginia, southside Richmond, greater Richmond, or Tri-Cities.

[jp the roadgeek]

Hartford and Springfield, MA area
Outsiders call it Northern CT and Southeastern MA
Locals call it the Connecticut River Valley

Locals also refer to your area more specifically as The Quiet Corner. 

More broadly, the term Southern New England is often used.  There is a battle between CT and RI as to who claims that title

Locals also use the Farmington Valley, Greater Hartford, or Midstate region for my area.

[JJBers]

Hartford and Springfield, MA area
Outsiders call it Northern CT and Southeastern MA
Locals call it the Connecticut River Valley

Locals also refer to your area more specifically as The Quiet Corner. 

More broadly, the term Southern New England is often used.  There is a battle between CT and RI as to who claims that title

Locals also use the Farmington Valley, Greater Hartford, or Midstate region for my area.

I call the area Hartford suburbs.
Also locals mostly call this area Willimantic area.

[TheHighwayMan394]

- Also in Minnesota, there's "the Arrowhead Region" generally covering St. Louis, Lake, and Cook Counties (effectively everything east of US 53). "The Iron Range" is a stretch of northeastern Minnesota best known for iron ore and taconite mining, generally running from Crosby to Grand Rapids to Ely and southeast to Lake Superior, but with a modern-day focus on the Hibbing/Virginia/Eveleth area.

Locals often refer to this area collectively as "the Northland" (generally throwing in some counties west of the Range), which in some definitions also includes the adjoining part of northern Wisconsin.

[nexus73]

Coos Bay-North Bend OR and the surrounding unincorporated area is called the Bay Area by the locals.  The region covering Curry, Coos, coastal Douglas and coastal Lane counties is called the South Coast by its inhabitants.  As for what they call this locale out of the area, I sometimes wonder if the people in PDX and the Valley even know we are here!

Rick

[roadman65]

Orlando, FL is known as Central Florida. 
Tampa, FL (and St. Pete) is called the Bay Area.
Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach is called South Florida.
Fort Myers and Naples area: SW Florida.
Fort Pierce and Vero Beach is locally known as "The Treasure Coast."
Melbourne, Cocoa Beach, and Titusville area is the Florida Space Coast (aka Space Coast.)


All of Union and Middlesex Counties in NJ were known as North Central Jersey.  I also believe Somerset and Hunterdon Counties too were included in that as well.