# USA Dopers: Which "region" is your current location? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 10, 2014, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-dopers-which-region-is-your-current-location/700973 "2014-10-10T15:13:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2014, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-dopers-which-region-is-your-current-location/700973/41 "2014-10-12T13:25:13Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Yep, odd. I would think there would be a mountain region. There is a [Mountain West Conference](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_West_Conference) in NCAA Division 1 FBS. Includes Hawaii. I guess the islands themselves qualify since they are volcanoes rising from the sea floor, more or less. I still miss the old [Southwest Conf](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southwest_Conference) Funny how I tend to align areas not just by geography, but also by Football and Basketball ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2014, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-dopers-which-region-is-your-current-location/700973/42 "2014-10-12T13:47:16Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > I’d say NY, NJ and CT are in the North East. I wouldn’t call them New England but have no problem saying they’re Mid-Atlantic. Have you ever looked at an actual map of [New England](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_England)? If CT is “northeast”, what is RI (perhaps a smudge more north than CT, but completely to the east of it)? If you wouldn’t call CT “New England” you would simply be wrong, because it is. > [@](#): > > New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. > > \ > > New England is the only one of the United States Census Bureau’s nine regional divisions whose name does not derive from its geography and it is the only multi-state region with clear, consistent boundaries. It maintains a strong sense of cultural identity set apart from the rest of the country… We sometimes subdivide NE into southern and northern, but it’s all New England and nothing outside of it is included. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2014, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-dopers-which-region-is-your-current-location/700973/43 "2014-10-12T14:40:18Z")
Central by the definition given, Southern by reality; specifically, Gulf Coast. ---
**Author:** ![James\_Toothpaste](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e56c9b/32.png) [@James\_Toothpaste](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/James_Toothpaste)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2014, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-dopers-which-region-is-your-current-location/700973/44 "2014-10-12T19:46:42Z")
Midwest (Wisconsin). ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2014, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-dopers-which-region-is-your-current-location/700973/45 "2014-10-12T20:32:02Z")
Yeah, that’s a truly poor choice of map for this sort of poll; the regions obviously were selected for administrative ease rather than any sort of common identity. If it were from a website that’s actually about education, I’d be surprised, but it’s about picking colleges, and I’d no more expect such a site to have culturally valid regions than I’d expect a social worker to teach geography. It’s sort of impossible to identify regions by state anyway, as most states have parts that are more like their neighbors than they are like the rest of the state, and some have unique regions that aren’t like anyplace else. Here’s a [pretty good map](http://sperglord.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/cultural-usa-map.jpg) that takes this into account: though some compromises have been made to keep the number of regions down (to 14!), it recognizes the cultural and physical divisions within most states. ---
**Author:** ![marking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4da419/32.png) [@marking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marking)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2014, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-dopers-which-region-is-your-current-location/700973/46 "2014-10-12T20:42:51Z")
SouthWest Wisconsin. Just 25 minutes from Mississippi (near Iowa and Minnesota border) So Midwest… But I prefer to think of it as the Central Coast !! ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2014, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-dopers-which-region-is-your-current-location/700973/47 "2014-10-12T22:15:58Z")
Most people call the region “New England”. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2014, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-dopers-which-region-is-your-current-location/700973/48 "2014-10-12T22:56:21Z")
> [@GrumpyBunny](#): > > Parts of upstate New York have a New England vibe, which confuses people. > [@John\_Mace](#): > > No one in New England is confused about that. Damn straight 😃 The Northeast and New England aren’t the precisely same thing, though. As far as I’ve ever been able to tell, northeast = New England + mid-Atlantic. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-dopers-which-region-is-your-current-location/700973/49 "2014-10-13T01:04:04Z")
> [@Nametag](#): > > It’s sort of impossible to identify regions by state anyway, as most states have parts that are more like their neighbors than they are like the rest of the state, and some have unique regions that aren’t like anyplace else. Here’s a [pretty good map](http://sperglord.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/cultural-usa-map.jpg) that takes this into account: though some compromises have been made to keep the number of regions down (to 14!), it recognizes the cultural and physical divisions within most states. Pretty good splits. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-dopers-which-region-is-your-current-location/700973/50 "2014-10-13T01:21:22Z")
No points of confusion here. The exploding state of South Carolina is going to be southeast no matter who puts it together. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-dopers-which-region-is-your-current-location/700973/51 "2014-10-13T02:08:06Z")
Elf: that’s how I’d define “northeast”. ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-dopers-which-region-is-your-current-location/700973/52 "2014-10-13T14:40:50Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > No one in New England is confused about that. Well, obviously I mean people from away. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-dopers-which-region-is-your-current-location/700973.md?page=2)