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-Minnesota
-Wisconsin outside of Madison, Milwaukee, and the rest of the SE corner of the state
-UP Michigan
-The extreme eastern edge of South Dakota, including Sioux City
-The extreme eastern edge of North Dakota, including Fargo and Grand Forks
-The extreme northern edge of Iowa including Dubuque and Mason City could make a case
In no way is any part of Illinois, Southern Iowa, or the lower peninsula of Michigan part of the Upper Midwest, let alone Indiana or Ohio. Chicago is not in the upper midwest, milwaukee is not, des moines is not, detroit is not, and fort wayne, toledo, and cleveland definitely are not.
Your perception of what constitutes the upper Midwest is entirely Minnesota-centric.
That would make sense seeing how MN is the center of the Upper Midwest.
BTW, sorry on confusing Sioux city with Sioux Falls. My mistake and I fixed it. Dubuque is iffy; it technically lies farther south than SE Wisconsin but the culture there is much more similar to La Crosse and other typical Upper Midwestern cities than Madison and Milwaukee. Trust me, I went to college in Madison and there are big differences between Madison and the Twin Cities. Madison (and even moreso Milwaukee), are much more similar to lower Midwestern cities like Chicago, Fort Wayne, Grand Rapids, Ann Arbor, Cleveland, etc.
Your perception of what constitutes the upper Midwest is entirely Minnesota-centric.
You noticed that too. I'm just wondering how the extreme eastern edges of South Dakota and North Dakota qualify as upper Midwest, but evidently the rest of those two states must be lower Midwest?? I think someone is confused.
Sorry, but yes. Downstate IL is more like Indiana or Arkansas than it is like Chicago. Chicagoland looks and feels like WI, only with more people. Chicagoland is also a lot greener with more trees and water features than Downstate IL, very similar to Southern WI. Downstate IL also tends to be very conservative, whereas Chicago and WI tend to be on the more progressive side.
That would make sense seeing how MN is the center of the Upper Midwest.
BTW, sorry on confusing Sioux city with Sioux Falls. My mistake and I fixed it. Dubuque is iffy; it technically lies farther south than SE Wisconsin but the culture there is much more similar to La Crosse and other typical Upper Midwestern cities than Madison and Milwaukee. Trust me, I went to college in Madison and there are big differences between Madison and the Twin Cities. Madison (and even moreso Milwaukee), are much more similar to lower Midwestern cities like Chicago, Fort Wayne, Grand Rapids, Ann Arbor, Cleveland, etc.
None of those are Lower Midwestern cities. WI is the center of the Upper Midwest since it's between MN and MI.
Upper and Lower Midwest are stupid delineations to begin with, I don't know why we're arguing about this. Great Lakes and Great Plains is a much better way to divvy up the region, although still not perfect.
I would say the cities I listed: Milwaukee, Chicago, Fort Wayne, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Cleveland, and Akron are part of the rust belt region which isn't really part of the upper or lower midwest. It's kind of a middle ground. Cleveland and Detroit are not similar with Minneapolis (Upper Midwest) or Kansas City (lower Midwest). I think it's best the rust belt/great lakes area is it's own seperate, third midwestern region unlike both the upper and lower midwest.
We can divide the Midwest into four regions: Upper Midwest, Western Rust Belt, Lower Midwest, and Great Plains. All four have their own distinct accents. Upper Midwest has the Fargo accent, Rust Belt has the nasally Midwestern accent, Lower Midwest has a southern tinged accent, and the Great Plains have what is generally considered the generic standard American accent.
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