# What states are part of the Midwest? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 29, 2014, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-states-are-part-of-the-midwest/687277 "2014-04-29T14:45:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2014, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-states-are-part-of-the-midwest/687277/41 "2014-04-29T22:01:34Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Glad you stopped in. What’s with the U of Missouri calling itself “Mizzou”? What’s up with that? There aren’t any z’s in the name of your state. There’s no “The” in Ohio, either. But that doesn’t stop them from calling their state university that. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2014, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-states-are-part-of-the-midwest/687277/42 "2014-04-29T22:16:21Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > There’s no “The” in Ohio, either. But that doesn’t stop them from calling their state university that. Once again, nobody calls it that except for official statements from the university administration. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2014, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-states-are-part-of-the-midwest/687277/43 "2014-04-29T22:21:18Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > As I type this, with 86 votes in, I am posting from the only state which is absolutely, positively 100% midwestern. Go Illinois! Suck it, Indiana! With your meager 97.94% 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2014, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-states-are-part-of-the-midwest/687277/44 "2014-04-29T22:51:59Z")
> [@SirGalahad](#): > > BTW, I’m from Missouri. Please pronounce it properly: Mi-zu-rah. You wouldn’t say Ar-Kan-zas. I’m from Missouri, too, and you gotta show me. Bootheelers and some rural areas pronounce it Mi-zu-rah; KC, St. Louie and more metro areas say Mi-zoo-ree, and never the twain shall meet. Part of the Midwest? You bet your ass. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2014, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-states-are-part-of-the-midwest/687277/45 "2014-04-29T22:54:47Z")
> [@GreasyJack](#): > > I think the 100th Meridian (which bisects the plains states) is really the western border of the Midwest. It’s what was traditionally considered the border between the wet farmable East and the arid West. If you’re driving west across the plains states, it’s still definitely noticeable on the ground as the Midwestern corn fields give way to wheat fields and cattle ranches. The culture clearly changes as well, rather abruptly sometimes. > > So, for purposes of this, the eastern halves of the Dakotas, Nebraska and Kansas are clearly Midwestern, but just as clearly the westernmost parts aren’t. I agree with this. You could take your rural Wisconsin farmer grandfather to a county fair in Eastern Nebraska or Kansas and he’d be right at home. He’d be comfortable with all the people wearing Red Wing work boots and overalls, the dairy cattle, the John Deere dealers showing off their farm equipment, etc. But take him to North Platte or Dodge City and he’d be completely out of place with everyone wearing cowboy boots, the sheep and beef cattle, the rodeos, and the equipment dealers displaying four wheelers with their attachments of post hole diggers and bush hogs. ---
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2014, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-states-are-part-of-the-midwest/687277/46 "2014-04-30T02:00:54Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > No brainers: > Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa. > > Barely Qualify: > North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri > > Too Far East: > Pennsylvania, West Virginia > > Too Far West: > Colorado, Montana, Wyoming > > Too Far South: > Oklahoma, Arkansas I voted for all of the no brainers and barely qualifies. In the second group, only part of the state is Midwestern. missred, a native Hoosier ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_North](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@Richard\_North](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_North)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2014, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-states-are-part-of-the-midwest/687277/47 "2014-04-30T02:13:26Z")
> [@missred](#): > > I voted for all of the no brainers and barely qualifies. In the second group, only part of the state is Midwestern. > > missred, a native Hoosier What kind of hoosier? 😉 There’s an Indiana Hoosier, and there’s a Missouri/Illinois Hoosier. Two different meanings. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2014, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-states-are-part-of-the-midwest/687277/48 "2014-04-30T02:13:27Z")
Lamar Mundane and Greasy Jack got it exactly right. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2014, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-states-are-part-of-the-midwest/687277/49 "2014-04-30T02:24:33Z")
I forgot to choose Wisconsin… ugh. Otherwise I agree with all the most popular answers. I never considered Dakotas, Nebraska and Kansas to be Midwest (I always called them Great Plains states). Missouri was a tough one for me but I ultimately ended up choosing it. Definitely not Kentucky or Tennessee (those are South). Pennsylvania had me stumped for a while because no one really considers it part of the Northeast/New England, and it’s also not part of the South. I ultimately did not choose it but I don’t know what it belongs to. ---
**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2014, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-states-are-part-of-the-midwest/687277/50 "2014-04-30T02:26:55Z")
Down goes Illinois! Was it forgetfullness? Spite? Explain yourself. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2014, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-states-are-part-of-the-midwest/687277/51 "2014-04-30T02:35:39Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Once again, nobody calls it that except for official statements from the university administration. [Seven seconds in.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aKu6UDlEqA) The Greater Columbus Convention and Visitors Bureau is [careful to capitalize The.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aKu6UDlEqA) The [Atlanta Journal Constitution](http://atlantafalcons.blog.ajc.com/2014/04/29/falcons-draft-board-ohio-state-lb-ryan-shazier/) parrots the party line. [Transfer student uses the The word](http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/writer/jeremy-fowler/24536017/ohio-state-lands-alabama-transfer-center-chad-lindsay) before he even gets on campus. Even the branch campus at [Marion gets the full treatment](http://www.marionstar.com/article/20140408/NEWS01/304080009/Public-invited-celebration-Ohio-State-University-Marion). 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2014, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-states-are-part-of-the-midwest/687277/52 "2014-04-30T02:38:42Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > Tell me more about how we label similar populations in similar climates in similar neighborhoods. Maybe give them all similar labels? Or maybe even just pay attention to how they self-label themselves, and notice a pattern… So, what, every city with suburbs and a cold winter/hot summer climate in the US from Spokane to Denver to Syracuse is midwest? Yeah, right. Suburbs of cities are the least cultural distinct places in America. Generalizing from them to come up with regional categories is very silly. ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2014, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-states-are-part-of-the-midwest/687277/53 "2014-04-30T04:44:30Z")
Here’s a map of prairie land:[File:Map of the grassland ecoregions of the United States.jpg - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Map_of_the_grassland_ecoregions_of_the_United_States.jpg) To me, the Midwest is prairie land, Lincoln logs, Little House on the Prairie, and the land of Oz. I consider Nebraska to be the center of the Midwest, and have always thought of the Midwest of prairie land country. I’m in a considerably minority opinion including Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado as Midwest although their most populace territories are prairie land. I checked Ohio as Midwest, but after viewing this map, I’ll omit Ohio. I have to include Indiana because it has some prairie land and because I can’t think of Hoosier country as anything other than Midwest. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2014, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-states-are-part-of-the-midwest/687277/54 "2014-04-30T11:23:18Z")
> [@Knorf](#): > > Suburbs of cities are the least cultural distinct places in America. Generalizing from them to come up with regional categories is very silly. So what are we left with? You’re the one that made the nonsensical statement that “Kansans by and large have relatively little in common with people from Minnesota or Michigan” - and I pointed out that an extremely significant amount of them do, in fact, have a lot in common with them. Eastern Kansas is indistinguishable from much of the Midwest in both demographic and geographic details, it is contiguous with that region, and its population self-identifies as midwestern. But feel free to chop off western Kansas if it bothers you so much in your quest to pinpoint the exact borders of the midwest. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2014, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-states-are-part-of-the-midwest/687277/55 "2014-04-30T12:13:56Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > No brainers: > Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa. > > Barely Qualify: > North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri > > Too Far East: > Pennsylvania, West Virginia > > Too Far West: > Colorado, Montana, Wyoming > > Too Far South: > Oklahoma, Arkansas I picked the “No Brainers” plus Kansas, Nebraska, and Missouri. I never thought of North and South Dakota as Midwest, although I suppose if I put Nebraska and Kansas in there, I should consider them. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2014, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-states-are-part-of-the-midwest/687277/56 "2014-04-30T12:57:08Z")
> [@MOIDALIZE](#): > > Down goes Illinois! > > Was it forgetfullness? Spite? Explain yourself. Maybe the person is from Cairo, which is as Southern as any Delta town like Rosedale, Greenville, Helena, or Vicksburg. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2014, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-states-are-part-of-the-midwest/687277/57 "2014-04-30T13:11:13Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I picked the “No Brainers” plus Kansas, Nebraska, and Missouri. I never thought of North and South Dakota as Midwest, although I suppose if I put Nebraska and Kansas in there, I should consider them. Yeah, thinking about it, I probably should lop Nebraska, Kansas, North and South Dakota simply into “Plains States.” Kansas and Nebraska, though, somehow feel a bit “Midwestern” to me in a way that North and South Dakota don’t. Maybe it’s the relative flatness and the farming? And now with Nebraska in the Big Ten, that kind of reinforces my feeling of Nebraska in the Midwest (although I don’t really consider U Penn, another late Big Ten addition, to be Midwestern.) I guess to be consistent, I should either add N. and S. Dakota (which is how the US Census defines it), or remove Nebraska and Kansas from my definition. Ohio is also kind of an odd one. I definitely put it in the Midwest, but I feel it has three distinct geographical cultures to it: Midwest, Eastern, and Southern, depending on where you are in the state. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2014, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-states-are-part-of-the-midwest/687277/58 "2014-04-30T13:19:27Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > U Penn, another late Big Ten addition U Penn is in the Ivy League. Penn State is in the Big Ten. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2014, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-states-are-part-of-the-midwest/687277/59 "2014-04-30T13:45:57Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > U Penn is in the Ivy League. > Penn State is in the Big Ten. :smack: I knew that, really I did (especially since I graduated from a Big Ten school.) Morning brain fart. Need coffee to stimulate neural pathways. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2014, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-states-are-part-of-the-midwest/687277/60 "2014-04-30T14:02:31Z")
Ha. I actually think school conferences is one of the reasons some people are opposed to thinking of Kansas and Nebraska as the Midwest. Back when the Big Ten was just 10 schools, it was easy to point to those 7 states and say “that’s the Midwest”, and lump the Big 6/8 into some “other” category, usually saying they’re the “Great Plains (plus Colorado)”. That seems pretty limited thinking, IMO. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-states-are-part-of-the-midwest/687277.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-states-are-part-of-the-midwest/687277.md?page=4)