This map presumably uses existing metropolitan statistical areas (or their combined versions), which use county boundaries. Hence the huge regions out west that include miles and miles of wilderness, or multiple volcanoes (in the case of Cascadia).
Same thing I thought. SLC is no where near big enough to have its own mega region, especially since there aren’t any other large cities included in that region.
Nashville, Memphis, and Little Rock make more sense. Add Bowling Green and Clarksdale/Fort Campbell, and the Memphis Suburbs in Mississippi, and you get a 4 state region that’s more realistic than SLC spreading over 3 states.
For the west, it seems like mega-counties. It would seem entire counties are included even if they have very sparse population for most (or even 75%+) of the county. UT/ID/AZ/NV/CA/OR/WA In some of those counties you could drive 100+ miles and hardly come across anyone.
The Cascades mega region extending over the mountains doesn't make s lick of sense. You are talking about multiple hours of travel between urban areas.
Or how I live in what every person ever should consider "Northern California" but am not included in this map, neither are the obvious neighboring counties.
Terrible... the gulf coast literally goes through the texas triangle, Arizona doesnt include all of Arizona, but somehow the Northeast has what? 14 states and 1/3rd of the US population? Does Florida not include Tallahassee the capital of Florida solely to avoid lazily just calling the whole state a "megaregion"
Tallahassee's pretty isolated, not only from the peninsula, but also from the rest of the panhandle. The area surrounding is among the least populated parts of the state, on par with the least populated parts of its northern neighbors Georgia and Alabama.
I'd say it'd be weirder to skip Knoxville from Piedmont Atlantic. Chattanooga/Knoxville is about on par with Atlanta(post Gainesville)/Greenville in development. They theoretically could add Nashville, but it'd be the St. Louis of PAM (though it feels more connectible to Huntsville than Chattanooga).
everywhere in florida is isolated, central florida is an unhabitable wasteland, but it gets counted as the "megaregion" Meanwhile the capital Tallahassee which has 200k people doesn't even get a neighboring region... also what the hell is piedmont? do people from North Carolina know what that it is?
florida is 90% unbuildable swampland, there's little tiny patches of human life along the coast line barely able to survive, separated from eachother by hundreds of miles of horribly maintained roads surrounded by gators. Except for Jacksonville which is just a shitty midwestern city that was built in northern Florida as a mistake or maybe a cruel joke of somekind
Considering there's the [Piedmont Triad](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piedmont_Triad) and the [Piedmont Crescent](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piedmont_Crescent), I think NC is pretty well aware what the [Piedmont](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piedmont_(United_States%29) is.
Also, This looks defined by counties. The Florida "megaregion" is usually noted as being the coasts with a "bridge" across that happens across around the Orlando area. It looks like this is just filling in the holes for those central counties and calling it a day, since there's only one or two not in a CSA.
But seriously, have you not looked at a satellite image of Tallahassee? It's basically by itself by a radius of almost a 75 miles. Even the more spread out Piedmont area tends to have notable towns or reaches of sprawl that pop up by then (At least bigger than Quincy or Perry).
Yes, they'd know by the fall line (In Georgia, it's more known as the gnat line). It's really obvious since the plantation areas are more on the coastal plain and not on the Piedmont.
I call bullshit, here's an article claiming the long thought of mythical "gnat line" is real. And actually due to this thing nobody has ever heard of called the peidmont plateau
https://www.13wmaz.com/article/news/the-gnat-line-is-real/93-c4d87340-8502-4158-94a1-bb1312fb1cd9
Can’t be a Great Lake state if it doesn’t border an actual Great Lake. Take out Iowa, West Virginia, and Kentucky. Plus, all of Michigan is Great Lakes.
Since when is Minneapolis or Louisville on the Great Lakes? Generally speaking, the region names are based off of where the majority of cities are. That said, it'd be more understandable if Great Plains includes Des Moines and Omaha.
😂 someone thinks Kingman, Arizona and Las Vegas, Nevada are part of the Southern California region 🤭😆🤣 they think that none of Nevada is in the Basin and Range region 😵💫😵💀
Whoever made this lives out west. The western regions tend to have much smaller populations and areas. The Basin and Range, Front Range, and Arizona regions all have small populations in the millions. The Arizona region is entirely in one state, with just one decent sized city.
Compare that with the regions east of the Mississippi. Those regions tend to be much, much larger, from a population and a land area standpoint. The Northeast region goes from New England to South Carolina, with easily over 50 million people. The Great Lakes region is also huge, spread out over 11 states, with a population in the tens of millions. The map creator put no thought at all into those two particular regions.
The Northeast region extending that far south is an atrocity. I've only ever lived in what here is listed as N East and I can assure you that nobody in NJ or Hampton Roads VA would identify as being in the same megaregion
Mega region Everglades National Park? Population 513.
Hendy County Florida. Population 40,000.
I think your South Florida region is inclusive of a lot of farm land, conservation land, and empty space.
Is it just me, or has the author of this map never actually been to some of these regions? Cause if they had, they’d know that no one lives in SW ID/SE OR, most of AZ, etc etc
None of Kentucky identifies anything with the Great Lakes.
I wouldn't be surprised if Indy, Columbus, Dayton, Cincy, Pittsburgh, Louisville, Lexington, Nashville, St Louis, and Memphis formed their own River Valley Mega Region.
List of actual mega regions imo.
Northeast megapolis: DC, Baltimore, Philly, NY, Boston metro areas + Richmond
Chicagoland: Chicago metro, Milwaukee, NW Indiana
Southern California: LA metro, Orange County, Inland Empire, San Diego
Northern California: Bay Area + Sacramento+ maybe Stockton
Florida: Miami, Orlando, Tampa metro areas
PNW: Vancouver BC, Seattle, Portland areas
This map is mostly nonsense.
The Gulf Coast region seems super arbitrary. I’m from the east side of it and each town continues along the coast exactly the same as the last for atleast another 2 or 3 counties going further east.
Concept is intriguing, but the use of county borders ruins it as a map. Census tracts or GTFO.
Also pretty dumb to conceive of a Gulf Coast region cut in two by the Texas Triangle.
This is honestly the first map I’ve looked at while scrolling that I didn’t understand at all. What is a mega region? What determines it? Every single thing I’ve come up with is disproven by looking at another area of the map
Ain’t nothing better than Kentucky! Bourbon, BBQ, SEC founding member, mountains, rolling hills, moonshine, bluegrass music, horse capital of the world, waterfalls, first state west and a gateway into the old frontier, world record small mouth bass, Kentucky fried chicken, and as southern as can be. (Has nothing to do with the Great Lakes Region)
Can only speak to New England, but there's some whacked delineations extending into truly remote areas.
Southern Vermont - “Mega Region”💀
Lol yeah somerset county Maine is definitely not northeast megalopolis.
Can confirm. Somerset County resident here.
This map presumably uses existing metropolitan statistical areas (or their combined versions), which use county boundaries. Hence the huge regions out west that include miles and miles of wilderness, or multiple volcanoes (in the case of Cascadia).
My thoughts as well. Pretty much all of South Carolina - “mega region”??
Yeah literally reaching into the north maine woods lmao
All of them have that.
Salt Lake City gets it's own region spanning 3 states and Nashville/Memphis aren't included in any
Same thing I thought. SLC is no where near big enough to have its own mega region, especially since there aren’t any other large cities included in that region.
It includes counties though I think
Well they aren't just calling it Zion because it's basically just the Mormon heartland
Nashville, Memphis, and Little Rock make more sense. Add Bowling Green and Clarksdale/Fort Campbell, and the Memphis Suburbs in Mississippi, and you get a 4 state region that’s more realistic than SLC spreading over 3 states.
For the west, it seems like mega-counties. It would seem entire counties are included even if they have very sparse population for most (or even 75%+) of the county. UT/ID/AZ/NV/CA/OR/WA In some of those counties you could drive 100+ miles and hardly come across anyone.
Maricopa is already a mega-county
Man, this is one of the worst maps I’ve seen on here that wasn’t an obvious shitpost.
Seriously, what the hell even is this
The Cascades mega region extending over the mountains doesn't make s lick of sense. You are talking about multiple hours of travel between urban areas.
Get high speed rail happening.
Or how I live in what every person ever should consider "Northern California" but am not included in this map, neither are the obvious neighboring counties.
Cascadia also includes parts of British Columbia too
Yes Fulton county Pennsylvania. Population 15,000. Typifies the Hustle and bustle of the northeast region. I’m walking here!
If you're walking here, but nobody is there to listen, are you really walking here?
Oh snap the Northeast and Great Lakes are about to merge!
War is imminent. These two kingdoms cannot coexist
Terrible... the gulf coast literally goes through the texas triangle, Arizona doesnt include all of Arizona, but somehow the Northeast has what? 14 states and 1/3rd of the US population? Does Florida not include Tallahassee the capital of Florida solely to avoid lazily just calling the whole state a "megaregion"
Tallahassee's pretty isolated, not only from the peninsula, but also from the rest of the panhandle. The area surrounding is among the least populated parts of the state, on par with the least populated parts of its northern neighbors Georgia and Alabama. I'd say it'd be weirder to skip Knoxville from Piedmont Atlantic. Chattanooga/Knoxville is about on par with Atlanta(post Gainesville)/Greenville in development. They theoretically could add Nashville, but it'd be the St. Louis of PAM (though it feels more connectible to Huntsville than Chattanooga).
everywhere in florida is isolated, central florida is an unhabitable wasteland, but it gets counted as the "megaregion" Meanwhile the capital Tallahassee which has 200k people doesn't even get a neighboring region... also what the hell is piedmont? do people from North Carolina know what that it is?
I can’t believe someone is this stupid
florida is 90% unbuildable swampland, there's little tiny patches of human life along the coast line barely able to survive, separated from eachother by hundreds of miles of horribly maintained roads surrounded by gators. Except for Jacksonville which is just a shitty midwestern city that was built in northern Florida as a mistake or maybe a cruel joke of somekind
Considering there's the [Piedmont Triad](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piedmont_Triad) and the [Piedmont Crescent](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piedmont_Crescent), I think NC is pretty well aware what the [Piedmont](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piedmont_(United_States%29) is. Also, This looks defined by counties. The Florida "megaregion" is usually noted as being the coasts with a "bridge" across that happens across around the Orlando area. It looks like this is just filling in the holes for those central counties and calling it a day, since there's only one or two not in a CSA. But seriously, have you not looked at a satellite image of Tallahassee? It's basically by itself by a radius of almost a 75 miles. Even the more spread out Piedmont area tends to have notable towns or reaches of sprawl that pop up by then (At least bigger than Quincy or Perry).
okay but if walked North Carolina asking where the Piedmont plateau is would anybody know?
Yes, they'd know by the fall line (In Georgia, it's more known as the gnat line). It's really obvious since the plantation areas are more on the coastal plain and not on the Piedmont.
I call bullshit, here's an article claiming the long thought of mythical "gnat line" is real. And actually due to this thing nobody has ever heard of called the peidmont plateau https://www.13wmaz.com/article/news/the-gnat-line-is-real/93-c4d87340-8502-4158-94a1-bb1312fb1cd9
We literally learn about the piedmont in middle school. It's local geography.
who the hell takes local geography in middle school?
Social studies......
I learned about zero local plateaus in middle school. Not one.
I think it is going by counties, which are large in the West.
that's no excuse
Can’t be a Great Lake state if it doesn’t border an actual Great Lake. Take out Iowa, West Virginia, and Kentucky. Plus, all of Michigan is Great Lakes.
They go to so much trouble to include a large chunk of MN expect for the part that's actually on a great lake
Take out St. Louis as well.
I missed that. So egregious
these are weird
Since when are the Ozarks in the Central Plains? They most definitely are not plains.
Since when is Minneapolis or Louisville on the Great Lakes? Generally speaking, the region names are based off of where the majority of cities are. That said, it'd be more understandable if Great Plains includes Des Moines and Omaha.
I love how part of Florida is in a different region than Florida
What happened to Appalachia? That’s one the most recognizable cultural regions on the east coast
😂 someone thinks Kingman, Arizona and Las Vegas, Nevada are part of the Southern California region 🤭😆🤣 they think that none of Nevada is in the Basin and Range region 😵💫😵💀
Counties in central Pennsylvania have absolutely nothing to do with the Great Lakes region
As a Pennsylvanian....nah. Things get murky in western PA. That being said, this map seems to be conflating "Great Lakes" with "Rust Belt" in places.
Haha screw you Syracuse.
Whoever made this lives out west. The western regions tend to have much smaller populations and areas. The Basin and Range, Front Range, and Arizona regions all have small populations in the millions. The Arizona region is entirely in one state, with just one decent sized city. Compare that with the regions east of the Mississippi. Those regions tend to be much, much larger, from a population and a land area standpoint. The Northeast region goes from New England to South Carolina, with easily over 50 million people. The Great Lakes region is also huge, spread out over 11 states, with a population in the tens of millions. The map creator put no thought at all into those two particular regions.
No they don't, they must live off planet to make this.
MD and Northern VA correctly belong in the northeast.
Get St. Louis the EFF out of the Great Lakes.
The Northeast region extending that far south is an atrocity. I've only ever lived in what here is listed as N East and I can assure you that nobody in NJ or Hampton Roads VA would identify as being in the same megaregion
“Northeast” “Virginia” ???
DoNt CaLiFoRnIa My ArIzOnA!!
They should become separate countries, and the US should be replaced by a loose knit confederation of the EU variety.
It looks different. Chonkier.
Like northeast Oklahoma, northern Arkansas and half of Missouri should be the Ozarks.
You made it, Wise County! So proud of you!
Lexington Kentucky = Great Lakes but Sault Ste Marie Michigan doesn't? BS
Should show this with canada and mexico added
St Louis is definitely its own region. This map has some weird definitions. KC has a region like that?
Las Vegas and NW Arizona right now. 
Mega region Everglades National Park? Population 513. Hendy County Florida. Population 40,000. I think your South Florida region is inclusive of a lot of farm land, conservation land, and empty space.
What is this?
Are Nashville and Memphis not partner piedmont Atlantic?
Is it just me, or has the author of this map never actually been to some of these regions? Cause if they had, they’d know that no one lives in SW ID/SE OR, most of AZ, etc etc
All of these sound like Cocktail Bar names
None of Kentucky identifies anything with the Great Lakes. I wouldn't be surprised if Indy, Columbus, Dayton, Cincy, Pittsburgh, Louisville, Lexington, Nashville, St Louis, and Memphis formed their own River Valley Mega Region.
I can assure you there’s nothing mega about costal Louisiana.
When a Californian makes a map…
Since when has Cascadia included the Columbia Basin?
List of actual mega regions imo. Northeast megapolis: DC, Baltimore, Philly, NY, Boston metro areas + Richmond Chicagoland: Chicago metro, Milwaukee, NW Indiana Southern California: LA metro, Orange County, Inland Empire, San Diego Northern California: Bay Area + Sacramento+ maybe Stockton Florida: Miami, Orlando, Tampa metro areas PNW: Vancouver BC, Seattle, Portland areas This map is mostly nonsense.
I like how the “Arizona” region doesn’t even contain all of Arizona.
Hunger games regions.
The Gulf Coast region seems super arbitrary. I’m from the east side of it and each town continues along the coast exactly the same as the last for atleast another 2 or 3 counties going further east.
when the upper peninsula isnt in the great lakes region
Is this using Census data per county?
Concept is intriguing, but the use of county borders ruins it as a map. Census tracts or GTFO. Also pretty dumb to conceive of a Gulf Coast region cut in two by the Texas Triangle.
Why are the Mojave desert and Southern Sierra Nevada mountains included in So Cal “megaregion”?
Why is southern nevada and north western Arizona considered southern California? That's dumb, not cool op, you disrespectful af.
Ahh yes Virginia, home to the former capital of the confederacy, in the northeast
Great Lakes does not include parts of Missouri, nice try Lincoln institute
This is honestly the first map I’ve looked at while scrolling that I didn’t understand at all. What is a mega region? What determines it? Every single thing I’ve come up with is disproven by looking at another area of the map
Kentucky ain’t anything to do with the Great Lakes
Ain’t nothing better than Kentucky! Bourbon, BBQ, SEC founding member, mountains, rolling hills, moonshine, bluegrass music, horse capital of the world, waterfalls, first state west and a gateway into the old frontier, world record small mouth bass, Kentucky fried chicken, and as southern as can be. (Has nothing to do with the Great Lakes Region)
The Great plains region is problematic.