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We all know about bordering states with strong ties, like New Jersey and New York, Alabama and Mississippi, California and Nevada, etc. But which states don't seem to have particularly strong ties in spite of a substantial common border? Here are some that I perceive:
- Alabama and Florida
- Arkansas and Oklahoma
- Colorado and Kansas
- Connecticut and Massachusetts
- Illinois and Missouri
If I'm wrong, and these states do have strong ties, then correct me. Otherwise, are there any other states that share a substantial border but don't have very strong ties? (Not that there are no ties at all, just that they're not as strong as people would think.)
Arkansas and Oklahoma share quite a bit in common culturally and (to some extent) geographically, especially eastern OK. And the Florida panhandle certainly has strong ties to the "Florabama" sub-region, an area that extends into Mississippi's Gulf Coast as well. CT and MA seem reasonably close, though the Whalers-Bruins rivalry came to an unfortunate end in the mid-90's...
Colorado and Kansas seems like a stronger example. It's similar in some ways to the Oregon-Nevada connection. OR and NV share more than 150 miles of border, but beyond that, the ties are minimal. For that matter, Oregon shares almost 300 miles of border with Idaho, and while there are more ties than with Nevada, it's not an especially close relationship.
I might add Oklahoma and New Mexico, Illinois and Kentucky, and (if we count international borders), Idaho and British Columbia.
Minnesota and Wisconsin... I've noticed perhaps because of the football team rivalry who knows, that many people from MN don't have much to say about WI or the people in it and vice versa, even though from my perception there's no real difference between them. Meanwhile people from MN don't seem to have anything bad to say about South Dakota though, and people from South Dakota seems to love MN and the twin cities.
Wisconsin/Illinois is similar, also due to football but also the way Illinois drivers drive when they visit the state, generally ignoring traffic laws and going way over the speed limit. (90 in a 65, that sort of thing)
I guess it really depends on where you are in the state. For instance, even though people typically associate Michigan with Wisconsin and Minnesota, where I grew up in southern Michigan was more affiliated with northern Indiana and Ohio than Wisconsin or Minnesota, which makes sense considering those states were much closer. Conversely, someone from the U.P. would have closer ties to Wisconsin and Minnesota as opposed to Ohio and Indiana.
Culture generally does not follow state lines, especially if there's a sizable city along the border (which there is, often times). If there's a longer border, expect to see some overlap from most states. In the eastern half of the United States where the states are smaller, I feel like an area of a given state tends to take on the attributes of the state(s) geographically closest to it. So Southern Minnesota feels like Iowa and Northern Iowa feels like Minnesota.
I suppose the only case I could see for this are states that have small borders with each other, such as Oklahoma and New Mexico, or Kentucky and Missouri. Perhaps also West Virginia and Maryland.
We all know about bordering states with strong ties, like New Jersey and New York, Alabama and Mississippi, California and Nevada, etc. But which states don't seem to have particularly strong ties in spite of a substantial common border? Here are some that I perceive:
- Alabama and Florida
- Arkansas and Oklahoma
- Colorado and Kansas
- Connecticut and Massachusetts
- Illinois and Missouri
If I'm wrong, and these states do have strong ties, then correct me. Otherwise, are there any other states that share a substantial border but don't have very strong ties? (Not that there are no ties at all, just that they're not as strong as people would think.)
Western MA is very tied to Connecticut, Hartford/Springfield is almost 1 metro of 2,000,000 people. For example when the Hartford Convention center Collapsed in 1978 (due to Blizzard) they moved the Harford Whalers to Springfield, which is the states 3rd largest city, which is 1 town away from Connecticut. they also share an International Airport. What your saying is Boston, not Massachusetts is not tied to Connecticut.
Last edited by btownboss4; 08-14-2012 at 08:47 AM..
Well, of course there are examples of stats that are just barely adjacent, like Oklahoma/New Mexico, or Missouri/Tennessee.
Example like Florida/Alabama don't have much of a tie, because the pupulation density of both states is more concentrated at the opposite ends, away from their common borders. Michigan/Wisconsin would be another example, where very few residents of either state live near the border, and there is an impassable body of water separating the two.
But in reality, the concept of "ties" is militated against by the fact that adjacent states are more often in competition with and at odds with each other, rather than in a cooperative arrangement.
Football seems to have a lot to do with it, and states don't pay much attention to each other if their college football teams do not play in the same conference. People in Ohio pay a lot more attention to Michigan than to Kentucky, because OSU never plays the Wildcats, but have to deal with both Michigan and Michigan State.
I'd say that the St. Louis metro area ties much of the Illinois/Missouri border together. Even the Universities of illinois and Missouri play each other in Football and Basketball in St. Louis every year and it is a big rivalry.
We all know about bordering states with strong ties, like New Jersey and New York, Alabama and Mississippi, California and Nevada, etc. But which states don't seem to have particularly strong ties in spite of a substantial common border? Here are some that I perceive:
- Alabama and Florida
- Arkansas and Oklahoma
- Colorado and Kansas
- Connecticut and Massachusetts - Illinois and Missouri
If I'm wrong, and these states do have strong ties, then correct me. Otherwise, are there any other states that share a substantial border but don't have very strong ties? (Not that there are no ties at all, just that they're not as strong as people would think.)
There's a pretty strong tie in southern Illinois and the St. Louis area. If I'm not mistaken, 25-30% of the St. Louis metro area is in Illinois.
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