Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I think Florida is arguably the MOST diverse, but California is up there as well.
There is also Virginia which varies greatly from, say, southwestern Virginia compared to Greater DC... or Georgia which is basically Atlanta metro and the rest of the state. In New York you obviously have NYC, Long Island, and Upstate NY... which are vastly different from one another, but most of upstate NY really isn't all that different from each other. However...
I've spent a pretty reasonable amount of time in virtually all of these "states" of Florida, and it really is the truth.
Georgia isn't just Atlanta and the rest, but those are the main distinctions. There is coastal Georgia with Savannah and the barrier islands...and there are the North Georgia mountains that make up the southern tip of the Appalachians.
I dunno about the "most" but I can tell you about the states I've lived in:
Arizona: Definite Northern Arizona vs. rest of the state vibe. Phoenix vs. Tucson, etc. Flagstaff is 150 miles from Phoenix, but have almost nothing in common except being bordered in the same state. Southeast Arizona is pretty military (very beautiful), Northeastern Arizona is pretty much its own country (after all, most of it is part of the Navajo reservation), and the Colorado River is a huge party zone.
Washington State: Eastern vs. Western Washington might as well be different planets. Seriously, east of the Cascades is basically Idaho. The Palouse is pretty cool, and Spokane is underrated, but the rest of it is agricultural to an extent that most people don't realize. Even within Western Washington, definite difference between the Puget Sound area and everywhere else.
New York: Yeah, everyone knows the Upstate vs. Downstate divide, but even within the NYC metro area, there is a definite divide. Long Island suburbia and scenery is drastically different than Westchester and points north. Seriously. And within "upstate" itself, there's a huge difference between Western NY (Buffalo/Rochester), Central NY (Syracuse), and the Hudson River Valley (Albany).
Hawaii: All the islands are at war with each other. It's kinda cool, in a weird island sort of way.
California: I have no idea how we are still a state. I mean there's a ton of government deadlock here, so that explains a lot. Since I know California the best since I've been here the longest, here's how it goes
1) Los Angeles County: Basically it's own thing. Most of the SoCal suburbs hate LA for some reason, even though LA has most of SoCal's population. Hollywood liberal + immigrants scared of the Republicans wanting to line them up and execute them.
2) Orange/San Diego Counties: They, IMO have more in common with each other than they do with LA. The classic "beach bum" stereotype mixed in with the Conservative Republican South Orange County/North San Diego County (basically, i draw a line from like south of the 55 to north of the 56/Ted Williams Parkway). Ironically, both areas are also full of immigrants as well, but mostly outside the above named area (notable exceptions: Irvine, Escondido, Oceanside, Tustin).
3) Inland Empire (Riverside and San Bernardino County): Inland Southern California. Raised pick-ups and bros closer to the coast (west of the San Gregorino Mountain Range), desert tweakers and lost agricultural workers to the east. Can include Imperial County here because the Imperial and Coachella Valleys are connected via the Salton Sea.
4) Central Coast: Ventura County to Santa Cruz. My personal favorite area of California. Very beautiful. At either ends, beginning of the Bay Area and LA suburbs, in between some very quaint towns, beautiful coast line, vineyards, the works. I would literally wall this whole area off to become a National Park. It's that amazing
5) Southern San Joaquin County (Madera, Fresno, Tulare, Kings, Kern Counties that aren't in the Sierra): Agriculture. A lot of it. The cities and towns themselves resemble places in the southern Great Plains/Texas than they do California. Kern has a lot of oil, so there's that going on as well.
6) Northern San Joaquin County (Merced, Stanislaus, San Joaquin Counties): The northern counterpart to the IE, except more agriculture. A few years ago, pretty indistinguishable from #5, except now this area is full of Bay Area exurbs. Enjoy the new Bay Area underclass.
7) Sierra Nevada (Inyo/Mono Counties north to roughly Shasta County on the east side of California): Lots of ski resorts, logging, and national parks. Also another favorite area of California, except that it's becoming way too expensive to even hang out there. Just beware of the park rangers or the lumberjacks.
8) Bay Area (the counties touching the Bay +/- San Benito): Techy, liberal, put-your-stereotypes here. Very liberal, but for very different reasons. Santa Clara I feel like is just slightly left of center, full of immigrant families wanting a combination of responsible spending with some modicum of social liberty. San Francisco, don't really need to say anything. Marin, limosuine liberal. Sonoma, Wine County liberal.
9) Northern Coast (Mendocino, Humboldt, Del Norte): Pretty much Oregon for most people in California. Lots of trees everywhere, and tweakers, and weed farms. Depending on the season, can include Trinity County. Mostly lberal.
10) Sacramento Valley: Sacramento itself is becoming its own thing, but still pretty much a government town. North of Sacramento, less agriculture than the San Joaquin, but lots of quaint little towns full of truckers and rice farmers.
11) Inland Northern California (Shasta, Siskiyou, Northeast California): Very very conservative. Some ski towns, a lot of lumber towns, very beautiful, sparsely populated aside from Redding.
There you go on that one.
Last edited by Lets Eat Candy; 04-29-2015 at 08:44 PM..
I think Pennsylvania is overlooked in this respect. The southeastern part of the state is culturally and socially a part of the Northeast corridor (Boston, New York, Philly, Baltimore, Washington DC, etc). The western part of the state is more aligned socially and culturally with Applachia and/or the Midwest. Pittsburgh, for instance has much more in common with cities like Detroit, Cleveland, and Cincinnati than it does with New York, Philly or Boston.
I dunno about the "most" but I can tell you about the states I've lived in:
New York: Yeah, everyone knows the Upstate vs. Downstate divide, but even within the NYC metro area, there is a definite divide. Long Island suburbia and scenery is drastically different than Westchester and points north. Seriously. And within "upstate" itself, there's a huge difference between Western NY (Buffalo/Rochester), Central NY (Syracuse), and the Hudson River Valley (Albany).
The Hudson River itself is a Huge divide. I have a friend in Westchester county and they behave as if Bergen County (and the whole NJ side of the Hudson waterfront) doesn't exist.
That being said- I rarely cross the Hudson because it's so stressful and expensive.
Location: Watching half my country turn into Gilead
3,530 posts, read 4,175,298 times
Reputation: 2925
To me, Florida is the obvious "winner" here, so I'll talk about my neck of the woods.
Delaware: Northern Delaware is VERY different than Southern Delaware, aka Slower Lower, with Kent County being the transitional zone. The north part of the state is dense suburbia, with New Castle County essentially being one big suburb of Wilmington and Philadelphia. Urbanized, with mainly white collar and retail jobs, with a smattering of government and blue collar jobs as well. Very little agriculture, and demographically the most diverse part of the state. Like 6 out of 10 Delawareans live here. Very much culturally part of the North East. Incredibly liberal.
Southern Delaware, aka Kent County past Dover and all of Sussex is the complete opposite. Outside of some small communities on 13/1, and the liberal, touristy beach towns, completely rural and agricultually based. Chicken production is big there, and demographically white, with some Mexicans for labor (being honest here). Light government presence with the prison and government center. Outside of the rich beach towns, very conservative and not as affluent. When people argue about Delaware being Southern, lower Kent/Sussex county is their argument.
States like Illinois and Georgia that have one huge, dominant city in one region as opposed to a more rural/agricultural area in the other.
They are very uneven states.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
