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Also comparing this to Cleveland, while it's not much further west than Pittsburgh, the migration patterns are rather reversed with Midwestern cities being the top places where other people move in and out from. Even in Cleveland, the common state plates I saw were Indiana, Michigan and Illinois while here in Pittsburgh they tend to be Maryland, New York, and Virginia.
This is why I say that the boundary between the Northeast and Midwest is a "soft" boundary somewhere between Pittsburgh and Cleveland. It has to do with gross migration.
Quote:
Originally Posted by King of Kensington
Also, white ethnic Catholics aren't nearly as much a presence in Maryland/DC as in the Northeast...in that "demographic" sense New York, Boston and Philadelphia have more in common with Rochester, Buffalo and Pittsburgh then they do with Baltimore.
Maryland was founded by Catholics, so I find that hard to believe.
If you assume all Catholics are white or hispanic, and calculate percent Catholic from white and hispanic population, Maryland would be a bit higher. For example, it's possible the majority of whites in New York State are Catholic. When I first saw 4% next to North Carolina I thought it was missing a digit!
Wisconsin might have the largest % of whites that are Catholic.
I lived in West Virginia for 5 years, Pittsburgh for 4. Never spent a lot of time in KY but have visited often.
I grew up in NY and spent almost every summer in the Reading, Wilkes-Barre, Scranton, Harrisburg and Lancaster areas
I still have many friends in WV and PA and visit them whenever I get a chance to get back east.
And the only thing worse than driving through PA is driving through Kansas or Nebraska.
Just when I was going to get off the computer and do something useful, like laundry!
So you spent summers in central PA as a kid. Fair enough. But you still got the kid's perspective, not the adult's. I grew up outside of Pittsburgh. Since you lived there, you may have heard of Beaver Falls. I believed all the hype about Beaver County being Appalachia. . . .until I visited some places deep in Appalachia in KY. No comparison. If anything, BC is "Appalachia Lite". I've seen some places in W VA taht were pretty shocking, too. And yes, I've been all over PA. My parents lived in Bloomsburg when I was in college; my brother went to Penn State. I've been in central PA.
I have driven through both Kansas and Nebraska a few times. In fact, I've driven/ridden across Nebraska at least twice a year for the past 33 years. I like it. I-80 follows the route of the Oregon Trail. People on that route have been gouging tourists for more than a century, but at least there are services there. I-70 through Kansas, not as much. But I enjoy looking at the farms, the baby animals, the cranes (birds, not construction equipment) in the spring, etc.
Just when I was going to get off the computer and do something useful, like laundry!
So you spent summers in central PA as a kid. Fair enough. But you still got the kid's perspective, not the adult's. I grew up outside of Pittsburgh. Since you lived there, you may have heard of Beaver Falls. I believed all the hype about Beaver County being Appalachia. . . .until I visited some places deep in Appalachia in KY. No comparison. If anything, BC is "Appalachia Lite". I've seen some places in W VA taht were pretty shocking, too. And yes, I've been all over PA. My parents lived in Bloomsburg when I was in college; my brother went to Penn State. I've been in central PA.
I have driven through both Kansas and Nebraska a few times. In fact, I've driven/ridden across Nebraska at least twice a year for the past 33 years. I like it. I-80 follows the route of the Oregon Trail. People on that route have been gouging tourists for more than a century, but at least there are services there. I-70 through Kansas, not as much. But I enjoy looking at the farms, the baby animals, the cranes (birds, not construction equipment) in the spring, etc.
I guess we just have different points of view.
I was in Eastern PA just last year and It hasn't changed a bit.
Beaver PA is more like Wheeling, WV - not deep in the heart of Appalachia.
The NYTimes once referred to parts of the southern Tier and finger lakes in NY as "frost-bitten Appalachia"*. I guess they're not the same as "real Appalachia" further south? The NYTimes also described some of Massachusetts as "tired mill towns" to the annoyance of the locals.
*The census actually classifies them as Appalachia.
The NYTimes once referred to parts of the southern Tier and finger lakes in NY as "frost-bitten Appalachia"*. I guess they're not the same as "real Appalachia" further south? The NYTimes also described some of Massachusetts as "tired mill towns" to the annoyance of the locals.
*The census actually classifies them as Appalachia.
yep. Even the Catskill and Taconic Mountains of NY have little poverty stricken hillbilly towns where the locals speak with Southern Twangs and live the redneck lifestyle.
Yes Pittsburgh is a world apart from anything you find in PA.
The only other Large Metro area in PA is Philadelphia.
Everything else are small towns/Cities that feel closer to what you find in WV or KY (and many of those towns are more backwards than anything you can find in WV)
I don't see this when I compare rural western Pennsylvania to southern West Virginia or eastern Kentucky. Allow me to illustrate the differences:
1. Small towns in rural western Pennsylvania have generally been more industrialized and better connected than the small towns in southern West Virginia and eastern Kentucky.
2. Catholics and Germans are the religious and ethnic pluralities in rural western Pennsylvania, as opposed to Baptists and Scotch-Irish in southern West Virginia and eastern Kentucky.
3. Rural western Pennsylvania has higher incomes and rates of high-school diploma attainment than southern West Virginia or eastern Kentucky, plus a higher percentage of residents with health insurance.
4. Rural western Pennsylvania has lower rates of poverty, obesity, drug abuse, teen pregnancy and STDs than southern West Virginia or eastern Kentucky.
The economic data analysis from the Appalachian Regional Commission reaffirms that rural western Pennsylvania is better off than southern West Virginia and eastern Kentucky as well:
You can see how rural western Pennsylvania is generally better off than southern West Virginia, eastern Kentucky, and even southern Ohio, for that matter. The only "at-risk" county in Pennsylvania is Forest County, and that's only because prison inmates account for about a third of the county's population. It's fair to say that Cambria, Clearfield, Fayette, Greene and Somerset Counties have the worst quality of life in Pennsylvania, but even they're doing better than most counties in southern West Virginia and eastern Kentucky.
Location: Jefferson City 4 days a week, St. Louis 3 days a week
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NowInWI
No, whatever we "vote" on here can come to pass. Please lobby the federal government to designate Buffalo to become a part of the Midwest, and for Minneapolis to become a part of the Pacific Northwest, along with Denver. For crying out loud.
Then let the polls speak for themselves. That's the whole point of why I posted. In the Cleveland being Northeastern or Midwestern thread, Midwestern was the overwhelming choice...therefore, I'll let the polls speak for themselves.
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