Northern, Southern, Eastern and Western (state, better, largest, Atlanta)

[CinderFella7]

We each have an idea of what we find to be the most idealized eastern, southern, northern or western state and city. I'm curious what all of yours are! What do you define as each? So basically when you think of each compass definition what city and state first comes to mind?

States:
Northern: Minnesota and Alaska
Eastern: New Jersey
Southern: Alabama
Western: Arizona

Cities:
Northern: Boston
Eastern: New York City
Southern: Orlando
Western: San Francisco

[locolife]

I travel a lot for work so I have a hard time grouping the country into just 4 but I'll try for the sake of this question, however this is what I'd normally classify for regions.

Northeast: NY/NJ
Mid-Atlantic: DC/Maryland
Southeast: GA
South: Texas/Mississippi
Midwest: IL
Southwest: AZ
Inter-mountain West: CO
Northwest: WA
West Coast: CA

States
West: CA
East: NY
South: TX
North: MN or IL

Cities
West SF
East NYC
South Houston
North Chicago

[MarketStEl]

I also have a hard time picking only one city to represent four broad geographic divisions because the primary compass axes don't define them. It would be easier to split the country into four quadrants using axes that intersect somewhere near Kansas City.

Doing that causes the "Midwest" to disappear, however, and it also buries some intraregional distinctions (New England vs. Mid-Atlantic, for instance). So I'm going to give you first a four-quadrant answer, then a regional one.

Northeast
State: New Jersey
City: New York

Southeast
State: Georgia
City: Richmond (Atlanta has entered a plane of its own)

Northwest
State: North Dakota
City: Minneapolis-St. Paul (which technically lies on the wrong side of the north-south axis)

(note how I completely overlook the Pacific Northwest here?)

Southwest
State: New Mexico
City: Houston

(again, where does California fit in this taxonomy?)

Now for the regions:

New England
State: Massachusetts
City: Boston

Mid-Atlantic
State: New York (north), Maryland (south)
City: Philadelphia (New York transcends the region)

Upper Southeast
State: Virginia
City: Richmond

Deep South
State: Georgia
City: Charleston or Savannah

(Louisiana is a region unto itself, and New Orleans likewise as its exemplar city)

Midwest
State: Iowa
City: Chicago

Intermountain West
State: Colorado
City: Denver

Middle (eastern) Southwest
State: Texas
City: Houston

Desert Southwest
State: New Mexico
City: Phoenix

(California is a region unto itself, but it has two exemplar cities, Los Angeles and San Francisco)

Pacific Northwest
State: Washington
City: Seattle

[CinderFella7]

I know the 4 categories are broad and there are so many other waya to categorize, I just figured it would make for an interesting conversation. I also think it's great you guys posted more specific geographical categories!!!

[As Above So Below...]

Ill give it a try based on the criteria and then add some:

States:
Northern: New York
Eastern: Massachusetts
Southern: Georgia
Western: California

Cities:
Northern: Boston
Eastern: New York City
Southern: Atlanta
Western: Los Angeles

Here's how I would break it down based on geographic not culture:

Northeastern: New York
Southeastern: Atlanta
North Central: Chicago
South Central: Dallas
Southwestern: Los Angeles
Northwestern: Seattle

[innovator82]

We did a variation of this on time zones once. Most everyone said NYC for Eastern, Chicago for Central, and LA for Pacific. But for Mountain there was a debate between Phoenix and Denver. People who said Phoenix were choosing it because it is the largest city in the timezone (considering Arizona stays on MST). I was one who chose Denver just because it has always felt like a better representation of the Mountain Time Zone to me...maybe partly because of the Mile High City moniker.

[CinderFella7]

Originally Posted by innovator82

We did a variation of this on time zones once. Most everyone said NYC for Eastern, Chicago for Central, and LA for Pacific. But for Mountain there was a debate between Phoenix and Denver. People who said Phoenix were choosing it because it is the largest city in the timezone (considering Arizona stays on MST). I was one who chose Denver just because it has always felt like a better representation of the Mountain Time Zone to me...maybe partly because of the Mile High City moniker.

Hmm.. Interesting!! I think I would be inclined to choose Denver as well. I don't think of Phoenix at all when I think Mountain Time Zone. But then again, people picked the biggest cities (NYC, CHI, and LA) for the other time zones as you said. Thank you for sharing that!!