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I love the Northeast just as much as anyone else, but you make it sound MUCH more utopian than it actually is. I'd agree that the region is uniformly historic with very pleasant natural beauty all around, but it absolutely has its fair share of poor, uneducated and economically-depressed areas, just like the rest of the country.
In fact, the supposed high incomes of the Northeast have to be adjusted for high cost-of-living differences -- so even the overall wealth of the Northeast is somewhat exaggerated.
Yeah. I think the big metros (especially NYC, which also has its fair share of poor and working class) severely biases the perception of the region as a whole. There are a lot of people in the Northeast that really don't have these cities on their radar.
Here are some random MSA stats on median HHI I decided to pull up. These are from 2006 (pre-crash).
Rochester, NY - $47,749
Winston-Salem, NC - $44,706
Nashville, TN - $47,699
Columbia, SC - $45,964
Birmingham, AL - $44,534
Springfield, MA - $47,186
Albany, NY - $53,202
Erie, PA - $39,649
Providence, RI - $51,797
Allentown, PA - $51,464
Baton Rouge, LA - $46,656
These are just regular towns. You could probably catch a AA baseball game in most of them. That's pretty much middle of the road America (it exists in the Northeast too).
What hurts the South most is its large, rural black population. Its metros, however, are not too dissimilar from the metros in the Northeast that are not Boston, NYC or Philly.
Yeah. I think the big metros (especially NYC, which also has its fair share of poor and working class) severely biases the perception of the region as a whole. There are a lot of people in the Northeast that really don't have these cities on their radar.
Here are some random MSA stats on median HHI I decided to pull up. These are from 2006 (pre-crash).
Rochester, NY - $47,749
Winston-Salem, NC - $44,706
Nashville, TN - $47,699
Columbia, SC - $45,964
Birmingham, AL - $44,534
Springfield, MA - $47,186
Albany, NY - $53,202
Erie, PA - $39,649
Providence, RI - $51,797
Allentown, PA - $51,464
Baton Rouge, LA - $46,656
These are just regular towns. You could probably catch a AA baseball game in most of them. That's pretty much middle of the road America (it exists in the Northeast too).
What hurts the South most is its large, rural black population. Its metros, however, are not too dissimilar from the metros in the Northeast that are not Boston, NYC or Philly.
I know the northeast very well and have been to all 9 states in the northeast extensively. What you say is definitely true. The areas of wealth concentration are mostly within the NYC, Boston and Hartford MSA's. In fact, outside of NYC, almost the entire state of NY is very depressed and middle class at best. It's honestly no different than rural North Carolina. The same goes for most of PA, most of VT and most of ME. Also, western MA is somewhat depressed. That's because all of these areas once relied on blue collar manufacturing jobs. Lots of mills, factories, etc, many of which are now abandoned. But anyway, most of the northeast population is concentrated along the I-95 corridor. Go inland about 50+ miles from that, and you're basically in the rural South.
Northeast, to some extent whole east coast has more classism. Education esp. is important--or your "title" becomes your station in life kind of thing. There's slots you "belong" in.
In the west, it's not like that, whatever work you do is just work and people know that. More person centered I guess I'd say. And open-minded. I think the northeast is moreso static in it's approach to things and people more resistant to change.
And CA is conservative in the inland areas, whereas the northeast is liberal almost everywhere, rural or urban. And, the northeast is the LEAST religious area of the nation, which I like. But the northeast leads the nation with progressive politics.
Let's take a look at the last presidential election:
-Out of all the northeastern states only NY had a higher percentage vote for Obama, the rest were either at or below CA.
I love the Northeast just as much as anyone else, but you make it sound MUCH more utopian than it actually is. I'd agree that the region is uniformly historic with very pleasant natural beauty all around, but it absolutely has its fair share of poor, uneducated and economically-depressed areas, just like the rest of the country.
In fact, the supposed high incomes of the Northeast have to be adjusted for high cost-of-living differences -- so even the overall wealth of the Northeast is somewhat exaggerated.
Every state in the U.S. has those kinds of variances.
However, the states from Washington, D.C. to Maine have a combined GDP of 3.5 trillion dollars. That is greater than the GDP of Germany - yet with a far less population.
So, the northeastern U.S. is certainly one of the wealthiest regions in the world by any standard.
Most counties in the northeast are blue, except for PA. Big deal. But most of the New England states are 100% blue, even in rural counties. Vermont and Massachusetts both have universal healthcare systems established (or soon to be established) at the state level. 8 of the 9 states have had gay marriage for years. And public housing and assistance is very generous.
Just look at all the counties in the states on the west coast. Most of them are red. Only the coast of CA, the Seattle and Portland metro areas are blue. The northeast is also the only region in the U.S. in which ALL states within the region are blue, and it has been that way for years. Vermont even has a true socialist senator (Bernie Sanders). The city of Boston has had only Democrat mayors for the past 80 years. Most of the states have Democratic governors, senators and representatives as well.
There is no denying that the northeast is easily the most liberal region in the nation.
Most counties in the northeast are blue, except for PA. Big deal. But most of the New England states are 100% blue, even in rural counties. Vermont and Massachusetts both have universal healthcare systems established (or soon to be established) at the state level. 8 of the 9 states have had gay marriage for years. And public housing and assistance is very generous.
Just look at all the counties in the states on the west coast. Most of them are red. Only the coast of CA, the Seattle and Portland metro areas are blue. The northeast is also the only region in the U.S. in which ALL states within the region are blue, and it has been that way for years. Vermont even has a true socialist senator (Bernie Sanders). The city of Boston has had only Democrat mayors for the past 80 years. Most of the states have Democratic governors, senators and representatives as well.
There is no denying that the northeast is easily the most liberal region in the nation.
Your statement that even the inland and rural areas of the NE are "liberal" is BS. Half of the New England states were 100% blue btw. And the West COAST is just CA, OR, an WA as they are the only states in the west that touch the actual coast and all of those states are blue. So no the NE isn' the only region that's all blue. I think you may be colorblind or something but you should probably look at the maps again, CA has plenty of inland counties that are blue.
The thing is while the northeast is more "blue", it's clearly a "lighter" shade of blue. NY, RI, and VT had a higher % vote for Obama than CA. MA was about the same as CA. The rest were less than 60% for Obama.
I don't really care if you want to believe the Northeast is the most liberal region in America, it probably is, but your statement that it's basically blue everywhere including inland and rural areas isn't true.
I think people in some areas of the Northeast aren't reserved, but I do think they keep to themselves. You won't see people, complete strangers, greeting each other on the street too often. My friend from CA hates this about the NYC area. She calls us "unfriendly". I just think we see no point in saying hi to strangers as we're walking along. We also tend to not strike up random conversation as much, like with an employee at Dunkin who's serving us coffee or even a waitress. She also complains about this. There are exceptions, for example my mother, who will talk to anyone and is a lifelong northern NJ resident. We aren't reserved, IMO, but in a sense we do keep to ourselves. This gives others the idea that we're unfriendly when in reality, to me, we see no point in talking to people we don't know when we have things to do. We're hurried, I guess.
How much do people in other parts of the country engage in random conversations with strangers? I didn't noticed much of a difference traveling, though I guess I did a bit more random small talk.
Your statement that even the inland and rural areas of the NE are "liberal" is BS. Half of the New England states were 100% blue btw. And the West COAST is just CA, OR, an WA as they are the only states in the west that touch the actual coast and all of those states are blue. So no the NE isn' the only region that's all blue. I think you may be colorblind or something but you should probably look at the maps again, CA has plenty of inland counties that are blue.
The thing is while the northeast is more "blue", it's clearly a "lighter" shade of blue. NY, RI, and VT had a higher % vote for Obama than CA. MA was about the same as CA. The rest were less than 60% for Obama.
I don't really care if you want to believe the Northeast is the most liberal region in America, it probably is, but your statement that it's basically blue everywhere including inland and rural areas isn't true.
Um. Most of the land area of CA is red. Most of the land area of New England states is blue. Check the map again by county. Case closed.
How much do people in other parts of the country engage in random conversations with strangers? I didn't noticed much of a difference traveling, though I guess I did a bit more random small talk.
One time I was in a hotel in Tucson, AZ. I was standing waiting for the elevator to arrive at my floor and there was a guy standing next to me. He looked at me and said "good morning." I was like....
I understand he was being friendly, but to me it's just weird. I would never say anything like that to random strangers in public. Maybe a smile or something, but that's it. I'm sorry, but I think it's freekin' weird when random people in public say things to others. Idk...maybe it's because I'm raised in Connecticut?
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