I say it loud and I say it proud: Ohio is not the Midwest. It may be hard for many of you to hear, but it is true.
I define the areas of the country by geographical location. If one looks at the map of the United States, and draws a vertical line from the center of North Dakota through the center of Texas, the states to the left are the west and the states to the right are the east. Ohio falls to the right, therefore it is the east.
Some people say that Ohio has to be the Midwest because it cannot be the east coast. Just because the state does not border the Atlantic Ocean does not mean that the state cannot be considered the east coast. To emphasize, Ohio is on the eastern side of the country.
For those who like to divide the country by culture, Ohio still does not fall into the midwestern category. I’ll concede that in comparison to the coastal states like Maine, Vermont, and New England, their people and landscapes are vastly different than those of Ohio.
However, the true Midwestern states like Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri are dissimilar to Ohio. Ohio may have farming, but not nearly in the same capacity as the states mentioned above.
The country must be divided like this because California and Oregon, the true west, have an identity of their own.
The nation can’t be divided by the west coast: Oregon, Washington, and California; the east coast: too many tiny states to mention; the south: even more states to mention; and the Midwest be the rest of the country. That would be half the country!
Ohio has enough urban cities- Cincinnati, Cleveland, Toledo and COLUMBUS, that it’s not entirely corn and grass.
The point I must emphasize is if Ohio is considered the Midwest, then so is Pennsylvania. Being from Pittsburgh, I know for certain we are not midwestern- farthest thing from it.
If I absolutely had to define the Midwest, it would start at Indiana (please see photo for more details) or Illinois, but definitely not Ohio.
