Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Heavy white majorities
Prevalence of German ancestry
Black urban presence, black rural absence
Mexican Hispanic presence
Cold weather and snow
Beer culture
Domestic frame of reference- Focus on American heritage/legacy rather than international.
You kind of covered that in the "Black urban presence. . . ", but I was going to point out, even in most of the medium size cities, there is a sizable black population, particularly in the eastern part of the midwest.
Highest murder rates US
#1 is a midwestern city, St. Louis, plus #3 Detroit, #10 Miwaukee, #12 Kansas City, MO, #14 Cincinnati, #21 Kansas City, KS, #23 Dayton, OH, #25 Chicago, #28 Indianapolis, #29 South Bend, IN.
City populations as a percentage of the overall metro vary by so much these kinds of statistics are not always useful for comparisons. Most murders happen in isolated parts of the inner city. Take two cities of approximately 2 million in the metro, one with a city population of nearly 1,000,000 and the other with a city population of 250,000 of course the city with the smaller city population will have the numbers skewed much higher even though both metro's will have close to the same number of murders in the inner city parts of their metros.
Not so in the Plains states. I wouldn’t consider the black population in Scottsbluff, Nebraska to be “sizable†by any stretch of the imagination. In my time there, I saw more Hispanics than African-Americans and the city (small to average in size) is mostly white mixed with some American Indians. Further east, North Platte doesn’t seem to have much of a minority presence at all.
And Iowa is a VERY white state.
Dayton, Ohio and Flint, Michigan and Erie, Pennsylvania are “Rust Belt†cities, not what most outsiders picture when they think of “The Heartlandâ€.
Who said anything about Scottsbluff, NE? Certainly not me! But Omaha, yeah. It is 13% black, would be higher if it didn't annex a lot of burbs. Gale Sayers and Malcolm X are from Omaha. Davenport IA is about 11% black. Minneapolis, west of the Mississippi River, is ~18% black.
I'm beginning to think that most of the posters so far have interpreted the OP's question as, What are some stereotypes of the Midwest.
Like it or not, many of these stereotypes have some basis in fact.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheProf
-- Beer and a shot mentality
-- Big Ten College football craziness
-- state universities rule, generally
-- Sports craziness, in general
-- unpretentious
-- friendly, when approached, but not a sunny California friendliness
-- more racially segregated in bigger cities
These are definite common characteristics in the region.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Escondudo
Heavy white majorities
Prevalence of German ancestry
Black urban presence, black rural absence
Mexican Hispanic presence
Cold weather and snow
Beer culture
Domestic frame of reference- Focus on American heritage/legacy rather than international.
The domestic frame of reference in variable. Here in North Dakota, for example, I have met lots of fellow travelers. In Iowa, where I have lots of friends and family, few of them leave the confines of the state very often.
Kansas, Missouri, the Dakotas, and quite a few Iowans could care less about Big 10 football.
Nebraska shouldn't other, but that's college football in the era of the almighty dollar.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
