Which of these states do you consider Southern?

[jimrtex]

I would include the Dallas, Houston, Oklahoma City, St. Louis, and maybe Kansas City metro areas in the South.

The first three I could definitely fathom arguments for, but St. Louis and Kansas City?

I get to St Louis fairly often, and it's no more Southern than Indianapolis. Both feel a lot more like Chicago than Atlanta.

There's virtually no way one can consider KC to be anything other than a Great Plains city like Omaha. My family lives in KC and I know it pretty well. From my visits to OKC you could put it in the Plains category or link it with western cities like Denver, but I didn't find it to be Southern at all. I lived and worked in Dallas as recently as the late 1980's and unless it has changed a lot in 30 years I lump it with OKC as either a Plains or Western city, but not in the South.

I'll concede Kansas City, I guess.  But, almost all of the people I know from OKC, DFW, Houston, and STL are very Southern culturally.  I would bet a suburban area in Dallas would have a ton in common with a suburban area of Atlanta or Nashville.

There may be a selection bias in the people you know from those cities, particularly if they are relatives who have moved from Tennessee.