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This is 100% true. Born and raised in SE Missouri and the two cultures and accents can change in literally a matter of miles, even in rural areas.
As for the OP, the Midwest has a unique history. It's not a blend, it is it's own thing. I grew up on the line between the midwest and south. I would say I lean southern in almost every way but I know plenty of natives around here that certainly do not. Cities in the Midwest and rural areas in the Midwest are different enough, and not just because of the urban/rural divide. The immigration was much more varied in the cities while much of the rural Midwest was primarily Germans as well as Scandinavians in the far north. The southern fringes of the Midwest, mainly in Missouri & Indiana, have significant English/Scotch-Irish/Welsh ancestry. However, many of the counties that have significant amounts of those ancestries aren't usually considered part of the Midwest anyway.
Basically, most of the Midwest is unique enough that it is.....Midwestern.
I grew up in western Kentucky...not too far to the east of the cape. I feel that area is very much culturally tied to the south. But very odd is that I never developed the southern accent like my siblings and parents did and always teased about where I was from because of my accent. I said northern Illinois and it kept them quiet. But that area west of Paducah over through cape and sikeston to Poplar Bluff and the bootheel is I think highly rooted in the southern ways. Dont have to go much farther north though to see a change. I dont consider St Louis a southern city....a mix but mostly midwestern. I find a pretty sharp line right along I-70 from St Louis to Indy between the north and south if you will...at least in terms of accents and the like. I can always tell when I stop in Effingham IL I feel I am in a different world from where I visited by brother in Champaign
I think this question is best met with both regions because as mentioned in threads similar to this there is a lower and upper midwest.
But in general at least in the collegiate sense I think the Midwest shares more things in common with the South than NE. Big state schools are popular and their athletics arguably even more so in both, while in the NE it seems to be more of small, private schools and pro sports reign supreme. Greek life is also bigger in the Midwest compared to the NE, but not as much so as in the South generally
I think there's more than just a lower and upper Midwest, I think you could reasonably divide it into as many as four distinct sections. The problem is they don't align well with state lines.
First of all, you have the Great Plains, which would be Kansas, Nebraska, the eastern half of the Dakotas, and bits of western Minnesota and Iowa. This area is probably most influenced by the West and also by Texas and Oklahoma. The western Dakotas are pretty much full-blown Western to my mind.
Then there's the Upper Midwest, which I'd define as most of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa, as well as Michigan's UP and northern Illinois. This area is most influenced by central Canada (Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, maybe Alberta) and Europe (Germany and Scandinavia, with flairs of eastern Europe here and there).
And the Lower Midwest, which would include Missouri, extreme southern Iowa, southern Illinois and Indiana, and maybe even as far east as Cincinnati. This has reasonable influence from the northern parts of the Southeast (Kentucky, Arkansas, maybe Tennessee).
And then you've got the rest of the Midwest - northern Indiana, parts of Illinois, Michigan, and Ohio, which are all probably most culturally similar to the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast.
I think there's more than just a lower and upper Midwest, I think you could reasonably divide it into as many as four distinct sections. The problem is they don't align well with state lines.
First of all, you have the Great Plains, which would be Kansas, Nebraska, the eastern half of the Dakotas, and bits of western Minnesota and Iowa. This area is probably most influenced by the West and also by Texas and Oklahoma. The western Dakotas are pretty much full-blown Western to my mind.
Then there's the Upper Midwest, which I'd define as most of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa, as well as Michigan's UP and northern Illinois. This area is most influenced by central Canada (Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, maybe Alberta) and Europe (Germany and Scandinavia, with flairs of eastern Europe here and there).
And the Lower Midwest, which would include Missouri, extreme southern Iowa, southern Illinois and Indiana, and maybe even as far east as Cincinnati. This has reasonable influence from the northern parts of the Southeast (Kentucky, Arkansas, maybe Tennessee).
And then you've got the rest of the Midwest - northern Indiana, parts of Illinois, Michigan, and Ohio, which are all probably most culturally similar to the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast.
That's my take, anyway.
For the Upper Midwest definitely need to add the eastern Dakotas and western Minnesota in there..... we call ourselves the Northern Plains-Upper Midwest. Iowa I consider more central Plains But I live pretty far north too
The quarter of Iowa northeast of and including Des Moines is definitely not Plains, it's Upper Midwest. It's much too green and hilly, and it matches up culturally with the rest of the region. Des Moines is fringe enough that it has some similarities with Omaha and Kansas City, but overall it's more like Madison or an extra large Rochester. You may be right about western Minnesota and at least eastern North Dakota, though. That's a good point. Fargo and Grand Forks I could definitely see as more Upper Midwestern. But I'd still group eastern South Dakota with the Plains. Sioux Falls, Sioux City, Lincoln, and Omaha all have that "Plains" vibe for me.
The quarter of Iowa northeast of and including Des Moines is definitely not Plains, it's Upper Midwest. It's much too green and hilly, and it matches up culturally with the rest of the region. Des Moines is fringe enough that it has some similarities with Omaha and Kansas City, but overall it's more like Madison or an extra large Rochester. You may be right about western Minnesota and at least eastern North Dakota, though. That's a good point. Fargo and Grand Forks I could definitely see as more Upper Midwestern. But I'd still group eastern South Dakota with the Plains. Sioux Falls, Sioux City, Lincoln, and Omaha all have that "Plains" vibe for me.
Very true about Iowa.... I went to school in Ames in the late 80s...loved it there BTW. Northern Iowa fits closely in with the Upper Midwest. Scandanavian influences run pretty deep once you get into far northern Iowa than north through Minnesota, eastern Dakotas, and Wisconsin. Grand Forks has a high percentage of Norwegian ancestry as does much of the Red River valley and northwest Minnesota.
Southwest Iowa more like KC and Omaha and definitely more Plains vibe.....same probably as you said Sioux Falls then northwest to Huron and Aberdeen. I would say far northeastern SD is more like Minnesota than the rest of SD due to Sisseton Hills and generally more lakes than rest of the state. The Red River valley of ND is more Minnesota for sure than really North Dakota....that changes as you go west of Devils Lake to Jamestown where you have the typical plains environment much more.
Once you get out of the Omaha-Lincoln area of Nebraska it feels fairly western to me. The eastern portion of the state with the majority of the population feels much more eastern than southern. I think that there is a distinct culture in the areas by Omaha, Kansas City, and Des Moines.
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