Bordering states that don't have particularly strong ties (vacation, natural gas)

[Deezus]

Originally Posted by tablemtn

Colorado and Kansas seems like a stronger example. It's similar in some ways to the Oregon-Nevada connection. OR and NV share more than 150 miles of border, but beyond that, the ties are minimal. For that matter, Oregon shares almost 300 miles of border with Idaho, and while there are more ties than with Nevada, it's not an especially close relationship.

Yeah, Oregon and Nevada share a border, but the adjacent region is one of the most remote, least populated in the entire United States. A few rural desert highways cross to the South, but there's nothing even close to a population center for at least a couple hundred miles. Probably far more antelopes than people out there, and there's little reason for most Oregonians to travel that way. Most Oregonians only know Nevada from trips to Las Vegas or Reno.

With Idaho, Boise is close to the Oregon border, but because the ties are mainly in the eastern portion of Oregon, there's little connection with the Western half. There's a general sort of regional connectivity--with a lot of companies having offices serving the entire Pacific NW region and there's the legacy of the Bonneville Power Administration which is a federal agency that provide power from the Columbia River dams throughout the entire region. But, Idaho is sort of a distant cousin to Oregon--because population is distributed in western Oregon running north to south along I-5, the much bigger siblings of Washington and California are the real states that Oregon is often tied to.

[argot]

Originally Posted by stockwiz

Minnesota and Wisconsin... I've noticed perhaps because of the football team rivalry who knows, that many people from MN don't have much to say about WI or the people in it and vice versa, even though from my perception there's no real difference between them.

I would interpret that in the complete opposite way. In my opinion, the reason WI and MN people "don't have much to say" about each other is because they are so culturally and economically similar. I'm from eastern WI and even I think that Minnesota is tied to the state much more so than Illinois or Michigan.

[Trimac20]

The Panhandle of Florida is more like Alabama than the rest of the state anyway. And yes CO and OK is one of the 'forgotten frontiers.' Denver is a world away from OKC.

[stan4]

Oklahoma and Texas...only talk about each other to diss each other.
I am often surprised at the pure HATE between the two.

Texas and New Mexico. I always forget it's even on the border. Even though I lived 20 minutes from it for 3 years.

Texas and Louisiana seem to have more/better ties/relations.

[Trimac20]

Originally Posted by stan4

Oklahoma and Texas...only talk about each other to diss each other.
I am often surprised at the pure HATE between the two.

Texas and New Mexico. I always forget it's even on the border. Even though I lived 20 minutes from it for 3 years.

Texas and Louisiana seem to have more/better ties/relations.

I see Western Texas as part of the Southwest anyway, so it's not weird to me. Eastern NM is culturally like the Texas panhandle, very Baptist (check out the demographics of Clovis, NM).

The stereotypical Texan landscape seems more like the plains of NM than the swamps of Louisiana to me.

[Lifeshadower]

I think a more relevant consideration is to see where the vast majority of the population of a state resides, and see where the connections are.

For example, the vast majority of New York State's population (at least 11 out of 18 million) live in and around New York City. They, for example, wouldn't have as much connection the province of Ontario as someone who lives in Buffalo, NY does. The "average" New York resident would likely feel a strong connection to New Jersey, even if 7 million people live far away from any NJ state boundary.

In addition, the strong ties may or may not be both ways. For example, Nevada has EXTREMELY strong ties with California, but the average Californian may or may not have any ties to the state.

Due to the large size of the average Western US state, most people within those states may or may not have any strong ties with its neighbors. There aren't very many multi-state metros here, and aside from Portland, the ones that are multi-state aren't very major metros. In the case of California, around 99% of the people here live more than 100+ miles away from any state border, creating a huge mental bubble around the state, almost like living on an island.

In the case of Oregon and Nevada, there aren't any major direct highways going through the OR/NV border, though there are less major roads that connect. Even Nevada and Idaho having US-93 and US-95 don't have that strong of a connection to each other simply because 90% of NV live within 50 miles of the CA border. Likewise, Arizona and Utah have a long land border, but they aren't very connected simply because of the strikingly beautiful terrain in most of Northern Arizona that prevents direct travel from the populated parts of Utah and Arizona.

[Evergrey]

Originally Posted by Gnutella

We all know about bordering states with strong ties, like New Jersey and New York, Alabama and Mississippi, California and Nevada, etc. But which states don't seem to have particularly strong ties in spite of a substantial common border? Here are some that I perceive:

- Alabama and Florida
- Arkansas and Oklahoma
- Colorado and Kansas
- Connecticut and Massachusetts
- Illinois and Missouri


If I'm wrong, and these states do have strong ties, then correct me. Otherwise, are there any other states that share a substantial border but don't have very strong ties? (Not that there are no ties at all, just that they're not as strong as people would think.)

All of these state pairs have strong ties.

1. While it may seem like Miami and Huntsville are in different worlds, for example... FL's panhandle is really just a southern extension of southern Alabama. Adjacent areas will be similar while more distant areas diverge.

2. As stated... the AR/OK border region is one region sharing mountain ranges and culture.

3. The popular perception of these states is quite different... but the eastern half of Colorado... the flat Great Plains part everyone forgets about... is basically exactly the same as Western Kansas.

4. As someone stated... Springfield and Hartford are only about 25 miles away and are highly integrated into a larger region of almost 2 million.

5. Chicago itself may have little relation to most of Missouri... but a substantial portion of Metro St. Louis is in Illinois... and St. Louis is the hub for much of Southern IL.

[GunnerTHB]

Missouri and Kentucky are tied together more than some people think. I don't think Missouri as a whole has a strong connection to Nebraska, Oklahoma or Tennessee. Bordering parts of Missouri probably do. My part of the state is connected to Western Kentucky more than anywhere. There would be a connection to far Southern Illinois but there really isn't much business there. Besides, Illinois within 20 miles of the Ohio River might as well be Kentucky anyway.

[jeremybrooks772]

I'd have to disagree about Connecticut/Massachusetts, and to a lesser extent Illinois/Missouri and Arkansas/Oklahoma.

Here are some bordering states that don't have a very strong connection:

1. Oregon and Nevada (this is probably the best example. Two bordering states with the largest population clusters, Willamette Valley and Las Vegas, over 650 miles away from each other. Portland and Las Vegas are about at far away as Atlanta and Chicago are from eachother)

2. South Dakota and Minnesota

3. Oregon and Idaho

4. New Mexico and Oklahoma

5. Nebraska and Wyoming.

6. West Virginia and Maryland

7. Texas and Arkansas

[NYMTman]

Colorado and Oklahoma
Texas and New Mexico
Illinois and Kentucky