What state is the most comparable to Iowa?

[IowanFarmer]

Central Illinois and east central/southeast Iowa are very similar, but if you're looking at the whole state and making cultural comparisons, Illinois just isn't a great comp.

It's easy to say "well, just lop off Chicago" but you really can't. Chicago is one of the most important cities on the planet and it dominates Illinois in a way that has no comparison in Iowa. Chicago is major part of what defines Illinois even of the people outside of it's metro resent that.

Southern Illinois has a far more pronounced Southern influence than anywhere in Iowa, and is much more rugged and forested than even the Driftless Area of northeast Iowa.

[IowanFarmer]

Originally Posted by NDFan

Nebraska IMO; more in common w/ Dakotas even (both North and South) than even Minnesota

I think Iowa has a ton in common with the Dakotas, but the thing you have to remember here is that southern and western Minnesota have much more in common with the Dakotas than they the do the rest of Minnesota.

If you drew a line that was approximately from south of Rochester on the Iowa border, up approximately north of Roseau on the Canadian border, everything to the southwest of that line would be much more like the Dakotas, Iowa, and even eastern Nebraska than it's like the stereotype of Minnesota.

[nslpauvilus]

iowa and nebraska have many similarities as the rest have something pulling them back, especially Illinois, its population is too large even though it is centered around Chicago.