Which US states have cultural ties with more than one region?

[buritobr]

According to the census, the US has four regions: Northeast, Midwest, South and West. Some states fit very well into their regions: Massachusetts is 100% Northeast, Alabama is 100% South, Wisconsin is 100% Midwest, California is 100% West.
Which states are more similar to other regions?
Maryland, Delaware and DC are South. But are they similar to the Northeast?
Kentucky and West Virginia are South. Do they share some characteristcs with the Midwest?
Pennsylvania is Northeast. Does west Pennsylvania look like Midwest?
Does west Texas look like West?

[I’m not Stu]

Missouri has ties to the Midwest and South. Maryland, Delaware, and DC are now basically Northeast. Oklahoma is Southern, but a few small parts have Midwestern ties.

[Roll Roons]

Illinois. Southern Illinois is pretty much the south - Cairo is much closer to Memphis than to Chicago. Western and central Illinois are stereotypically Midwestern with lots of cornfields, Chicago itself is a major global city, and the collar counties are affluent suburbia.

Also Virginia. At this point, Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William are pretty much an extension of the Northeast, while the rest of the state is either Appalachia or the South.

[Starry Eyed Jagaloon]

Virginia, Missouri, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Kentucky come to mind first.

[Sol]

Maryland, Delaware, DC, and Virginia are all deeply southern states, but to varying degrees are closely tied to the adjacent northern metros and are part of the BosWash corridor.

Florida is Southern too, but there are certain Northeastern aspects to the Miami area, and some cultural influence from the Midwest in Southwest Florida.

Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana are Western states but have certain midwestern aspects as much of them are extensions of Western Kansas, the Dakotas, etc.

Hawai'i doesn't fit well into any U.S. regions--it's properly a part of Polynesia culturally, or just its own thing--but there's a lot East Asian influence, as well as obviously some similarities to the Western U.S.

There are obviously more examples but these feel the most salient.

[Orser67]

Northeast and South: DE, MD, WV, DC, VA
Northeast and Midwest: PA, NY
Northeast, South, and Midwest: FL
South and Midwest: OH, IN, IL, KY
South and West: TX
Midwest and West: KS, NE, ND, SD
South, Midwest, and West: MO, OK

Edit: added NY to Northeast/Midwest category, as I agree with TML's comment below about western New York.

[TML]

I think my home state of NY also qualifies as being divided between the NE and Midwest: western NY has considerable midwestern influence, which you hardly see elsewhere in the state (this would explain counties like Niagara & Chautauqua breaking strongly for Trump in 2016 despite Obama having won each one at least once, and it's currently hard for me to imagine either of these two counties being won by a Democrat in a statewide race anytime soon).

[RINO Tom]

The vast majority ... in fact, looking at a map, I would say these are the only states that DON'T have areas with ties to more than one region or large subregion:

NEW ENGLAND - Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island & Vermont
MIDWEST (BIG TEN COUNTRY) - Iowa, Michigan and Wisconsin
GREAT PLAINS - North Dakota and South Dakota
MOUNTAIN WEST - Utah
SOUTHWEST - Arizona and New Mexico

This is subjective and depends on how you carve out the regions, but using an example of my home region's states that weren't included:

IL: As said above, the southern third of Illinois is quite culturally Southern (i.e., "Little Egypt").
IN: Though I am less knowledgeable about it, Southern Indiana is also starting to get fairly "Southern" in some areas.
KS: While the rest of the state becomes more "Plainsy," the Kansas City suburbs have less of that feel.
MN: Western Minnesota is kind of the inverse of Nebraska in that its population likely "defers" to the Dakotas a bit more, and therefore the Plains.
MO: A big mess.
NE: Omaha has a feel decidedly more like Iowa, whereas the rest of Nebraska (west of Lincoln, anyway) has a much more Plains-like (or "Western Midwest") aspect to its culture.
OH: A bit of Appalachia in there.

[Gracile]

Florida is probably the biggest one as it contains a mish-mash of Southern, Midwestern, and Northeastern residents, respectively.

[Tartarus Sauce]

I believe that there was an article written by 538 where they conducted a survey of residents in each region and asked them which states they personally considered to be a part of their region. Missouri ended up being the orphan child that no region claimed as one of their own.

For the record, Missouri is listed as Midwestern by the U.S. Census Bureau, and you definitely get a good taste of that in a place like St. Louis. The vast majority of the rural areas and small towns throughout the state are clearly more southern in culture, though. Then there’s the Great Plains influence out by Kansas City and St. Joseph.

Missouri is probably the single most amalgamated state as far as regional influences go.

[Hope For A New Era]

Missouri is the most divided: The easternmost western state, westernmost eastern state, southernmost northern state, and northernmost southern state.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

The vast majority ... in fact, looking at a map, I would say these are the only states that DON'T have areas with ties to more than one region or large subregion:

NEW ENGLAND - Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island & Vermont
MIDWEST (BIG TEN COUNTRY) - Iowa, Michigan and Wisconsin
GREAT PLAINS - North Dakota and South Dakota
MOUNTAIN WEST - Utah
SOUTHWEST - Arizona and New Mexico

This is subjective and depends on how you carve out the regions, but using an example of my home region's states that weren't included:

IL: As said above, the southern third of Illinois is quite culturally Southern (i.e., "Little Egypt").
IN: Though I am less knowledgeable about it, Southern Indiana is also starting to get fairly "Southern" in some areas.
KS: While the rest of the state becomes more "Plainsy," the Kansas City suburbs have less of that feel.
MN: Western Minnesota is kind of the inverse of Nebraska in that its population likely "defers" to the Dakotas a bit more, and therefore the Plains.
MO: A big mess.
NE: Omaha has a feel decidedly more like Iowa, whereas the rest of Nebraska (west of Lincoln, anyway) has a much more Plains-like (or "Western Midwest") aspect to its culture.
OH: A bit of Appalachia in there.

I agree with your post, but I really think there are at least a handful of states (starting with Alabama and Mississippi) that could only be described as one Southern region.

[Libertas Vel Mors]

How has Texas not been mentioned yet on this thread?

[Del Tachi]

West Virginia (Northeast, Southeast, Midwest) and Texas (Southeast, Midwest, West) are the only "tri-regional" states. 

[Gass3268]

West Virginia (Northeast, Southeast, Midwest) and Texas (Southeast, Midwest, West) are the only "tri-regional" states. 

I'd throw Oklahoma in there as well with the same 3 as Texas.

[Sol]

West Virginia (Northeast, Southeast, Midwest) and Texas (Southeast, Midwest, West) are the only "tri-regional" states. 

I'd throw Oklahoma in there as well with the same 3 as Texas.

I think El Paso makes it a bit easier to classify certain parts of Texas as Western--there really isn't anywhere as culturally Western in Oklahoma.

[RINO Tom]

The vast majority ... in fact, looking at a map, I would say these are the only states that DON'T have areas with ties to more than one region or large subregion:

NEW ENGLAND - Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island & Vermont
MIDWEST (BIG TEN COUNTRY) - Iowa, Michigan and Wisconsin
GREAT PLAINS - North Dakota and South Dakota
MOUNTAIN WEST - Utah
SOUTHWEST - Arizona and New Mexico

This is subjective and depends on how you carve out the regions, but using an example of my home region's states that weren't included:

IL: As said above, the southern third of Illinois is quite culturally Southern (i.e., "Little Egypt").
IN: Though I am less knowledgeable about it, Southern Indiana is also starting to get fairly "Southern" in some areas.
KS: While the rest of the state becomes more "Plainsy," the Kansas City suburbs have less of that feel.
MN: Western Minnesota is kind of the inverse of Nebraska in that its population likely "defers" to the Dakotas a bit more, and therefore the Plains.
MO: A big mess.
NE: Omaha has a feel decidedly more like Iowa, whereas the rest of Nebraska (west of Lincoln, anyway) has a much more Plains-like (or "Western Midwest") aspect to its culture.
OH: A bit of Appalachia in there.

I agree with your post, but I really think there are at least a handful of states (starting with Alabama and Mississippi) that could only be described as one Southern region.

They’re both clearly Southern all the way through, but both would straddle subregions within the South, IMO (e.g., the Deep South, Appalachia, maybe “the Gulf,” etc.).

[Del Tachi]

The vast majority ... in fact, looking at a map, I would say these are the only states that DON'T have areas with ties to more than one region or large subregion:

NEW ENGLAND - Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island & Vermont
MIDWEST (BIG TEN COUNTRY) - Iowa, Michigan and Wisconsin
GREAT PLAINS - North Dakota and South Dakota
MOUNTAIN WEST - Utah
SOUTHWEST - Arizona and New Mexico

This is subjective and depends on how you carve out the regions, but using an example of my home region's states that weren't included:

IL: As said above, the southern third of Illinois is quite culturally Southern (i.e., "Little Egypt").
IN: Though I am less knowledgeable about it, Southern Indiana is also starting to get fairly "Southern" in some areas.
KS: While the rest of the state becomes more "Plainsy," the Kansas City suburbs have less of that feel.
MN: Western Minnesota is kind of the inverse of Nebraska in that its population likely "defers" to the Dakotas a bit more, and therefore the Plains.
MO: A big mess.
NE: Omaha has a feel decidedly more like Iowa, whereas the rest of Nebraska (west of Lincoln, anyway) has a much more Plains-like (or "Western Midwest") aspect to its culture.
OH: A bit of Appalachia in there.

I agree with your post, but I really think there are at least a handful of states (starting with Alabama and Mississippi) that could only be described as one Southern region.

They’re both clearly Southern all the way through, but both would straddle subregions within the South, IMO (e.g., the Deep South, Appalachia, maybe “the Gulf,” etc.).

Maybe, but I don't see how Michigan isn't split between a "Rust Belt" sub-region and a more German-dominated, "Northern Lakes" sub-region.  DTW seems distinctly more connected to the Lake Erie arch (passing through Toledo, Cleveland and onto Buffalo) whereas the UP feels more akin to parts of Minnesota.  Ditto for Wisconsin, since Chicagoland and the Northern Highlands are pretty obviously not part of the same sub-region, either. 

My perception of the Midwest (from someone who doesn't consider himself particularly well-versed in it, mind you) is something like this:

Rust Belt
Chicagoland
Northern Lakes
Corn Belt

   

[Tartarus Sauce]

West Virginia (Northeast, Southeast, Midwest) and Texas (Southeast, Midwest, West) are the only "tri-regional" states. 

I’ve never heard anybody refer to Texas as Midwestern in its characteristics.

[Del Tachi]

West Virginia (Northeast, Southeast, Midwest) and Texas (Southeast, Midwest, West) are the only "tri-regional" states. 

I’ve never heard anybody refer to Texas as Midwestern in its characteristics.

I think it would be if you consider the Great Plains part of the broader Midwest.  The Texas High Plains (Amarillo) have a certain similarity to places like Wichita or Omaha.

[Orser67]

West Virginia (Northeast, Southeast, Midwest) and Texas (Southeast, Midwest, West) are the only "tri-regional" states. 

I’ve never heard anybody refer to Texas as Midwestern in its characteristics.

Like parts of OK, the Texas panhandle has some connections/similarities to the Midwest, particularly to Kansas City. You can see this in, for example, Colin Woodward's American Nations map.

[Suburbia]

Missouri is the most divided: The easternmost western state, westernmost eastern state, southernmost northern state, and northernmost southern state.

Which shows that it is shameful that MO is not a swing state.

[Hope For A New Era]

Missouri is the most divided: The easternmost western state, westernmost eastern state, southernmost northern state, and northernmost southern state.

Which shows that it is shameful that MO is not a swing state.

It was...

Unfortunately, rural Missourians love populism just a bit too much. Of both the left and right varieties. We're probably the only state that would ever vote R for President by 19 points and then vote to repeal a right-to-work law and raise the minimum wage to $12 by even bigger margins two years later.

If Bernie had been the 2016 nominee, this state would have been a battle royale. The combination of his economic populism + generally not talking too much about "culture war" issues made him do very well in rural areas in the 2016 primary.