American Demographics and Regions Ethan Tabakin, 4-B

America’s Regions »The South »Has the most definitions of any region in the United States (approximately six) »Usually includes the states of: North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Virginia (subjective), Florida, Oklahoma (subjective), Texas (subjective), and Kentucky (subjective)

America’s Regions (cont’d) »The South »Economies of many of these states have a large agricultural base in many areas of the state »Residents typically favor conservative policies »The predominant religion in the South is Baptist

America’s Regions (cont’d) »The Northeast »Known for high urbanized population »Enormous megalopolis exists in this region (Bos-Wash), which extends from Boston, MA to Washington, DC »Climate of the region tends to be colder (especially in the winter) because of its geographic location »Voters in this region (with the exception of those who live in rural areas) tend to favor liberal policies »The major religion is Catholicism

America’s Regions (cont’d) »The Midwest »Definitions of this region can extend from Appalachia to the eastern Great Plains »Rural areas cover a large part of the Midwest »Large cities in the Midwest include Chicago, Detroit, and St. Louis »Voters in eastern Midwest states are more urbanized and tend to favor liberal policies, while voters in the western Midwest favor conservative policies

America’s Regions (cont’d) »The Midwest »Prominent religions in the Midwest include: Lutheran, Church of Christ, Methodist and Catholic »In the early twentieth century, the eastern Midwest was home to a large manufacturing industry

America’s Regions (cont’d) »The West »The US Coast Guard defines the American West as all states west of the Mississippi River »The US Census Bureau defines the West as the 13 western-most states (from Colorado to Hawaii) »A large amount of the population lives in the Southwest and in coastal areas

America’s Regions (cont’d) »The West »On the West Coast especially, the prominent religion is Catholicism, but Mormons claim a large number of adherents in and around Utah. Additionally, there are a large number of Baptists, Lutherans, and Methodists in the Great Plains area, as well as in Alaska. »Voters in urbanized areas on the West Coast and in Hawaii tend to be very liberal, whereas voters in the largely rural Great Plains and inland areas tend to support very conservative policies.

Vernacular Regions of the US »The Great Plains »The Great Plains is home to large tracts of farmland and is the largest source of wind power in the United States »This region has an immense agriculture- based economy with very few large cities (Oklahoma City, Omaha) »Contains the Corn Belt - a large corn producing region of the US centered in Iowa »Very Republican because of large rural population

Vernacular Regions (cont’d) »Sun Belt »Stretches from the southwest to the southeastern United States »Since Lyndon Johnson’s election in 1964, every elected president has been from the Sun Belt, with the exception of Barack Obama »The region gets quite hot during the summertime and has recently seen high population growth due to retiring baby boomers and an influx in immigration

Vernacular Regions (cont’d) »Bible Belt »Stretches from Texas to the East Coast and reaches as far north as Central Virginia and Missouri and as far South as southern Texas, the Gulf Coast and central Florida »Contains a large percentage of Baptists and other Protestants »Evangelists and others in the Deep South tend to vote Republican

Demographics »America is home to a white majority that is largely Protestant »The largest minority group in the United States are Black Americans, which make up 12% of the population »Asian Americans make up approximately 4% of the American population and are largely concentrated on the West Coast

Demographics (cont’d) »The largest ancestral minority is Hispanic Americans, composing almost 15% of the American population »Hispanics tend to be one of the least politically active ethnic minorities in the country »Many Hispanics vote liberally because they support amnesty for illegal immigrants

Demogrpahics (cont’d) »Gender »Males make up roughly more than half of the United States and females make up roughly less than half of the country »Women largely support equality policies regarding equal rights in the workplace and to be viewed as equals to men in election »Besides those and other basic rights, feminist and other policies favored by women (i.e. abortion) depend largely on political ideology

Debbie Lou Time! »Mrs. Hague is the AP Human Geography teacher and she is here to talk to you about America’s regions and demographics!