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 feel like this whole debate is to attach DC to NE cities like NYC. Well great but the NE in general is far more than NYC and one single aspect does not make or break a place to be part of it which is really more geographic based.
It goes well beyond one single aspect. At least a dozen criteria and likely more have been discussed in this thread alone.
However, I still like to point out that the tremendous concentration of high-paying white-collar jobs is probably the one aspect that is the most important and relevant to people who are looking to move to the region. That is what determines the overall lifestyle of the people more than anything else. The other stuff is sort of icing on the cake - it's all good but it's not the elephant in the room.
As said before, plenty of other places in the US have a high concentration of high paying white-collar jobs, not everywhere in the Northeast is full of those jobs and even in the places that are, those types are one of many parts of the culture. An important part for sure, but the only or defining part. The NYC area is nearly as much blue-collar union culture as well-paying white-collar culture, they coexist together.
The whole country doesn't have the demographics of the Northeast. And the demographics of the Northeast are the product of a 300+ year history.
The demographics of the Northeast have not been the same for 300 years either and have changed greatly over time. The Northeast is still the Northeast whether it was populated by a English-Dutch-French Huguenot - Quakers Protestant population or a Irish & Italian Catholic-Jewish-Southern Black population. What has survived population changes are things like cultural traditions, a sense of place, a history, forms of local government and education.
I thinking you are putting too much emphasis on demographics and not enough on history and geography.
I thinking you are putting too much emphasis on demographics and not enough on history and geography.
I don't think it's a good idea to mention history to BajanYankee. The discussion will quickly turn to slavery and jim crow and will ignore the strong historical connections between Washington DC, Philadelphia and New York City which everyone learned about in grade school.
I don't think it's a good idea to mention history to BajanYankee. The discussion will quickly turn to slavery and jim crow and will ignore the strong historical connections between Washington DC, Philadelphia and New York City which everyone learned about in grade school.
He would also ignore the strong connections between Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and DC. Especially between Maryland/DC and the other Northeastern states.
I don't think it's a good idea to mention history to BajanYankee. The discussion will quickly turn to slavery and jim crow and will ignore the strong historical connections between Washington DC, Philadelphia and New York City which everyone learned about in grade school.
I don't remember learning about that in history. I remember DC was chosen as the capital as a compromise: the a capital would be in the south, but a law on finances / government debt would be passed to the north's liking. JFK didn't think of it as a northern city in his famous quote.
Here is a little interesting thing about the Mid-Atlantic states and public land ownership. Compare especially Virginia to the more northern states of New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Mid-Atlantic State - % land area public land Fed and State - (% land area owned by state)
New York - 36.97% - (36.71% owned by state)
Pennsylvania - 14.74% - (12.75% owned by state)
New Jersey - 17.71 % - (15.58% owned by state)
Maryland - 6.86 % - (5.51% owned by state)
Delaware - 7.05 % - (4.87% owned by state)
Virginia - 9.67 % - (1.37% owned by state)
West Virginia - 9.92% (2.91% owned by state)
Note how much land has been saved in the 3 more northern states of NY, PA and NJ. But also note that they plus Delaware and Maryland have saved almost all their public lands by themselves without the help of the Federal government. Then look at Virginia and West Virginia, which if not for the Federal government might very well have devoted less then 3% of its land area for the public.
What we are seeing here has nothing to do with demographics (Irish, Italian, Black etc.) but a long history and tradition of how states see their role in conservation and the environment.
Interesting stats, like the different angle. However, Massachusetts with a similar area and population to Maryland is 5.5% state + federal (mostly state). I didn't realize NY was that high, but it makes sense. It's almost to western levels.
I don't remember learning about that in history. I remember DC was chosen as the capital as a compromise: the a capital would be in the south, but a law on finances / government debt would be passed to the north's liking.
Have you heard of George Washington? He was the commander of the Continental Army during the American Revolution, fought against the British in Boston and New York City, was present at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia and became the first President and Founding Father of the United States.
Have you heard of George Washington? He was the commander of the Continental Army during the American Revolution, fought against the British in Boston and New York City, was present at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia and became the first President and Founding Father of the United States.
Totally ignorable history, I know.
Yes, I don't know why that shows those cities were connected with DC. You just listed the three biggest cities of the US in the late 1700s.
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.