Eastern United States

TheEastern United States,often abbreviated as simplythe East,is amacroregionof theUnited Stateslocated to the east of theMississippi River.^[1]It includes 17–26 states andWashington, D.C.,the national capital.

As of 2011, the Eastern United States had an estimated population exceeding 179 million, representing the majority (over 58 percent) of the total U.S. population.^[2]^[3]^[4]

The three most populous cities in the Eastern United States areNew York City,Chicago,andPhiladelphia.

Northeastern United States

According to theU.S. Census Bureau,the Northeastern United States coomprises nine states, including (north to south):Maine,New Hampshire,Vermont,Massachusetts,Rhode Island,Connecticut,New Jersey,New York,andPennsylvania.

The present-day Northeast is significantly smaller than theNortheastern Woodlandscultural area. Thepre-ColumbianNortheast had three major areas: the Coastal area, Saint Lawrence Lowlands, and Great Lakes-Riverine zones. The Coastal area includes theAtlantic Provincesof Canada and the Atlantic seaboard of theUnited Statessouth toNorth Carolina.The Saint Lawrence Lowlands area includes parts of SouthernOntario,upstateNew York,much of theSaint Lawrence Riverarea, and theSusquehanna Valley.The Great Lakes-Riverine area includes the remaining inland areas of the Northeast, which were home toCentral AlgonquianandSiouanspeakers. TheGreat Lakes regionis sometimes considered a distinct cultural area due to its large concentration of Native American tribes.

New England

New Englandis a subregion of the northeastern U.S. that is bounded by theAtlantic Ocean,Canada,and the state ofNew York.It includes six states:Maine,New Hampshire,Vermont,Massachusetts,Rhode Island,andConnecticut.

In one of the earliestBritish colonialsettlements in theNew World,PilgrimsfromEnglandfirst settled in New England in 1620 atPlymouth Colonyin and around present-dayPlymouth, Massachusetts.In the late 18th century, the New England colonies were among the first North American British colonies to support an escalation in theAmerican RevolutionagainstBritain,launching theBoston Tea Partyon December 16, 1773, and later firing the first shots of theAmerican Revolutionary Warin theBattles of Lexington and Concordon April 19, 1775.

New England produced the first examples of American literature and philosophy and was home to the beginnings of free andcompulsorypublic education. In the 19th century, the region played a prominent role in the movement to abolishslavery in the United States.It was the first region of the United States to be transformed by theIndustrial Revolution.

As of 2023, New England is home to two of the top ten universities in the nation, according to 2022-23U.S. News & World Reportrankings,Harvard UniversityinCambridge, Massachusetts(tied for third), andMassachusetts Institute of Technologyin Cambridge, Massachusetts (tied for third).^[5]

Mid-Atlantic

According to theUnited States Census Bureau,the Middle Atlantic is a subregion of the northeastern U.S. that includes three states:New Jersey,New York,andPennsylvania.

The Middle Atlantic region includesNew York City,the largest city in the U.S. and a global center of finance and culture, andPhiladelphia,the nation's sixth-largest city and first capital, where theDeclaration of Independencewas signed atIndependence Hallin 1776, formally launching theAmerican Revolutionary War,and later where theU.S. Constitutionwas drafted and ratified atIndependence Hallin Philadelphia in 1789.

As of 2023, the Mid-Atlantic region is home to four of the top twenty-five universities in the nation, according to 2022-23U.S. News & World Reportrankings:Princeton Universityin Princeton, New Jersey,Cornell Universityin Ithaca, New York,Columbia Universityin New York, New York, and theUniversity of Pennsylvaniain Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.^[6]

East North Central States

The East North Central area, which includesIllinois,Indiana,Michigan,Ohio,andWisconsin,can also be classified as a subregion of the Northeastern United States, as these states are in the Great Lakes-Riverine area. As one of two subregional divisions used to categorize the modernMidwest,the East North Central region closely matches the area of theNorthwest Territory,excluding a portion ofMinnesota.The East North Central states form a large part of the Great Lakes region,^[7]although the latter also includes Minnesota,New York,Pennsylvaniaand theCanadian provinceofOntario.

Culturally, the East North Central region of the U.S. has been historically influenced by the British and the French;Anglo-Americanculture permeated states covering the region following thewestward expansion of the United States.Religiously, the East North Central states have been and remain predominantly affiliated withChristianity.Altogether, the five states are majorityCatholic,non- and inter-denominational,Methodist,Lutheran,andBaptist.The largest non-Christian religion has beenIslam.^[8]

Chicagois the largest city in the region, followed byColumbus, OhioandIndianapolis.Chicago has the largest metropolitan statistical area, followed byDetroit,andMinneapolis–Saint Paul.Sault Ste. Marie, Michiganis the oldest city in the region, founded byFrench missionariesand explorers in 1668.

As of 2023, the East North Central States are home to one of the top ten universities in the nation, according to 2022-23U.S. News & World Reportrankings: theUniversity of Chicago,which is ranked the sixth-best in the nation.^[9]

Southeastern United States

The Southeastern United States is a large region of the country that includes a core of states that reaches north toMarylandandWest Virginia,bordering theOhio RiverandMason–Dixon line,and stretches west toArkansasandLouisiana.^[10]

Unlike the Northeast, there is no officialU.S. governmentdefinition for the Southeast, and it is defined variably among agencies and organizations.

Its unique cultural and historic heritage includes the following aspects:^[11]^[12]

DistinctNative Americancultures (Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands)
Early European settlements ofEnglish,Scotch-Irish,ScottishandGermanheritage
Rejection of theAnglican Churchas instituted byGreat Britainand resorting to other denominations ofProtestantism
Helping partake in theAmerican Revolutionary War
Importation of hundreds of thousands ofenslavedblack Africans
Growth of a largeblackpopulation
Reliance on slave labor from early 1600s to mid-1800s
Southernyeoman farmersthat differed from theplanter class
Legacy of theConfederacyafter theCivil War
Reconstruction Era
Jim Crow eraandGreat Migration
Civil rights movement
Emergence of theNew SouthandNew Great Migration

These aspects, among other things, led to "the South" developing distinctive customs, literature, musical styles, and varied cuisines that have profoundly shaped traditional American culture.

The shift from a mainlyruralsociety to more cities andurbanized metropolitan areaspicked up speed followingWorld War IIin the 1940s. Since the late 20th century, certain Southeastern states and areas have seen great economic growth. This growth has led to many migrants moving to Southeastern states.^[13]In 2020, Fortune 500 companies headquartered in southeastern states included: Virginia with 22, Georgia with 18, Florida with 18, North Carolina with 13, and Tennessee with 10.^[14]

South Atlantic states

The South Atlantic region of the United States is one of the nineCensus Bureau Divisionsof the country. This region corresponds to theSouthernstates/areas that were geographically part of theThirteen Colonies,with the addition ofFlorida.It includes eight states and one federal district:Delaware,Florida,Georgia,Maryland,North Carolina,South Carolina,Virginia,West Virginiaand theDistrict of Columbia.^[15]The South Atlantic is also a recognized geographical division used by theUnited States Geological Survey.^[16]^: 2All entities within the region apart from the District of Columbia and West Virginia border the Atlantic Ocean.

As of 2010, the South Atlantic states had a combined population of 61,774,970. The South Atlantic region covers 292,589 square miles (757,800 km²). With the exception of West Virginia, the region has seen rapid population growth and economic development in recent decades.

As of 2023, the South Atlantic region is home to three of the top ten universities in the nation, according to 2022-23U.S. News & World Reportrankings:Johns Hopkins Universityin Baltimore, Maryland,Georgetown Universityin Washington, D.C., andDuke UniversityinDurham, North Carolina,which is ranked the tenth-best in the nation.^[17]

East South Central States

The East South Central region constitutes one of the nineU.S. Census Bureau divisions.Four states make up the division:Kentucky,Tennessee,MississippiandAlabama.Historically, the area has been colonized and influenced by theFrench,Spanish,British,early US, andConfederategovernments.^[18]^[19]^[20]^[21]Distinct among these states, Alabama's French culture has been preserved through theAlabama Creoles,^[22]and Kentucky's French culture can be observed throughout Louisville.^[23]The East South Central states form the core ofOld Dixie,^[24]one of the ninemoral regionsidentified byJames Pattersonand Peter Kim in their acclaimed 1991 geopolitical best-seller,The Day America Told The Truth.^[25]

Politically and culturally, the East South Central is moreconservativethan the South Atlantic; Mississippi, Alabama, Kentucky, and Tennessee's governments have been described during 2012 to 2023 as some of the most conservative.^[26]^[27]^[28]Religiously, conservativeEvangelical Protestantismdominates the East South Central region as a central part of theBible Belt.

As of 2020, the East South Central states had a combined population of 19,430,030. The East South Central region covers 183,401 square miles of land. Within the region, Tennessee is the largest state by population, though Alabama is the largest by land area; Tennessee was also the East South Central's fastest growing state between 2010 and 2020,^[29]^[30]with Alabama second.^[31]Kentucky was the third-fastest growing state,^[32]and Mississippi experienced population decline; despite population decline, Mississippi did increase in diversity.^[33]^[34]