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For PA, I'd say a belt from southern Potter through western Clinton and Cameron counties. About the only reason to go into this area is to deer hunt, or visit one state park that got branded a "dark sky" area.
Yeah-was going to mention Cherry Springs State Park for PA-supposedly one of the best places to see stars in the country.
Having lived there, I'd say the San Luis Valley in Colorado. 8,000 square miles (bigger than CT & RI combined) with a total population of 48,000. That's a lot of room. There are major universities that have more students than that.
Northwestern MA seems a bit remote, and it's the furthest away from Boston. Outside of an occasional music festival, there isn't all that much going on, and the closest urban area of any size is Albany, NY.
In Vermont, any area outside of Burlington, and maybe Montpelier-Barre, is in fact pretty remote...
VT is somewhat remote, you aren't really ever more than two hours from a decent sized city and that state overall is about the middle of the road on population density, slightly less than average, but considering there aren't any really big cities to throw it off, overall it is probably more dense than most.
Parts of Maine are pretty remote for the east coast.
MA isn't even a little bit remote. Parts are rural for sure, but the whole state is pretty densely populated. In fact #3 behind NJ and RI.
Northern Missouri isn't as isolated as southern Missouri east of Springfield is. Let's take a look at Brookfield, a small town in the center of northern Missouri, and Winona, a small town in the center of southern Missouri east of Springfield.
Here are all the cities and towns with 10,000+ population located within 100 miles of Winona:
Jonesboro, AR (74,889)
Cape Girardeau, MO (39,628)
Paragould, AR (28,232)
Rolla, MO (20,075)
Farmington, MO (18,355)
Poplar Bluff, MO (17,233)
Sikeston, MO (16,327)
Jackson, MO (15,036)
Lebanon, MO (14,709)
Mountain Home, AR (12,363)
West Plains, MO (12,320)
Festus, MO (12,104)
Union, MO (11,277)
Batesville, AR (10,740)
Kennett, MO (10,564)
That's a decent number. So, with all these cities and towns within 100 miles of Winona, how can somebody say that it's isolated? Well, here are all the cities and towns with 10,000+ population located within 50 miles of Winona:
West Plains, MO (12,320)
End of list. There just isn't much near Winona that wouldn't require being away from home for most of the day. On the other hand, here are all the cities and towns with 10,000+ population located within 100 miles of Brookfield:
Kansas City, MO (481,420)
Overland Park, KS (188,966)
Kansas City, KS (151,709)
Columbia, MO (120,612)
Independence, MO (117,030)
Lee's Summit, MO (100,235)
St. Joseph, MO (76,472)
Blue Springs, MO (52,431)
Jefferson City, MO (43,013)
Quincy, IL (40,531)
Leawood, KS (34,565)
Liberty, MO (30,614)
Raytown, MO (29,261)
Gladstone, MO (27,114)
Grandview, MO (25,190)
Ottumwa, IA (24,487)
Prairie Village, KS (21,805)
Sedalia, MO (21,489)
Raymore, MO (20,839)
Warrensburg, MO (20,251)
Hannibal, MO (17,808)
Kirksville, MO (17,519)
Moberly, MO (13,863)
Grain Valley, MO (13,684)
Fulton, MO (13,103)
Marshall, MO (12,897)
Mexico, MO (11,680)
Excelsior Springs, MO (11,522)
Keokuk, IA (10,431)
That's a lot. Also narrowly missing the 10,000+ cutoff are Kearney, MO (9,790); Chillicothe, MO (9,714) and Smithville, MO (9,455), all of which are projected to have 10,000+ population by 2020. And here are all the cities and towns with 10,000+ population located within 50 miles of Brookfield:
Kirksville, MO (17,519)
Moberly, MO (13,863)
Marshall, MO (12,897)
Chillicothe is also within 50 miles. I think it's safe to say that southern Missouri east of Springfield is more remote than anywhere in northern Missouri.
I had a friend in school in Kirksville and it was very remote up there. There are a few larger towns not far away, but Kirksville is about 3hr from Kansas City and 3.5 from St Louis. You can't easily take a day trip to the city. And getting to the airport is a royal pain.
I will add that Northern Missouri has far more 10-20K resident towns than Southern MO, so it doesn't feel quite as remote, even though it's still far from a city.
I had a friend in school in Kirksville and it was very remote up there. There are a few larger towns not far away, but Kirksville is about 3hr from Kansas City and 3.5 from St Louis. You can't easily take a day trip to the city. And getting to the airport is a royal pain.
I will add that Northern Missouri has far more 10-20K resident towns than Southern MO, so it doesn't feel quite as remote, even though it's still far from a city.
I'm not saying that northern Missouri isn't remote, just that southern Missouri east of Springfield is even more remote, partly because the larger towns are more evenly distributed across northern Missouri. Most of the larger towns in southern Missouri east of Springfield are within 50 miles of the Mississippi River, leaving a large area that's very thinly populated. When Willow Springs and Cabool are used as control cities on U.S. 60 and U.S. 63 in southern Missouri, then you know there's not much around.
^
To get concrete statistical data, you could compare population density on a county by county basis, but that is often a bit misleading due to differences in county sizes as well as national or state forest lands that can be contained within them.
For ND, it's hard to say as population is somewhat scattered, but probably NE of Williston, perhaps somewhere between Minot and Williston, In GA, there are several contenders with southern part of the Sea Islands, most of SW Georgia and far northeast Georgia. PA, it's easier to say, and it is the so-called "PA Wilds" on US-6 near Potter County and just south of there (Cameron county, Northumberland County, etc.)
Pretty much anywhere that isn't Albuquerque, Santa Fe or Las Cruces is remote. But the most remote part is probably Northeastern NM near the OK/TX/CO borders.
I'd bet the area around catron county on the western edge is more remote.
heck, the county seat of catron co. (reserve) is less than 300 people.
In GA, there are several contenders with southern part of the Sea Islands, most of SW Georgia and far northeast Georgia.
I disagree with most of this. There's nothing remote at all about coastal Georgia. It's served by I-95, which is the most important and heavily traveled north/south Interstate in the U.S., and the city of Brunswick has a metropolitan area of 124,902 people, per 2016 Census Bureau estimates. Glynn County, where Brunswick is seated, had a population of 92,620 in 2016, up from 79,626 in 2010, and projected to be 101,283 by 2020. Outside of the Atlanta metropolitan area, coastal Georgia is the fastest-growing part of the state. And not too far inland from the coast are the towns of Hinesville and Waycross, and Fort Stewart. Plenty of people live along or near the Georgia coast.
As for the north Georgia mountains, it is more remote than coastal Georgia, but it's also fast-growing, and with the northern edge of the Atlanta urbanized area now in Bartow, Cherokee, Forsyth and Hall Counties, it's possible to drive to the Atlanta urbanized area from anywhere in the north Georgia mountains, especially now with three different north/south highway corridors serving them. Also, depending on where you are, you're not far from smaller cities in Georgia like Rome, Dalton, Gainesville and Athens, or even cities in adjacent states like Chattanooga, TN and Anderson, SC.
With all that said, you are correct about southwest Georgia, especially the area south of Columbus and west of Albany. There's just not much happening there.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NDFan
PA, it's easier to say, and it is the so-called "PA Wilds" on US-6 near Potter County and just south of there (Cameron county, Northumberland County, etc.)
Northumberland County is located along I-80. The most remote counties in northern Pennsylvania are Elk, Cameron, Potter, and parts of McKean and Clinton Counties.
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