How stark is the urban/rural divide in your state?

24 comments

1. I grew up on a farm and then moved to the city for college. Massive culture shock. I was very overstimulated whenever I went outside. From a small town of 35 people to suddenly around 3 million. Thank God for Mary Jane, AKA the good good, AKA the good green stuff, AKA the reefer (for all you geezers).

2. In what context?

3. MASS- We pay rural government employees well, we have very good social services for the poor AND our rural don’t have financial stake in things like oil, coal, lumber. It means they aren’t biased based on industries.

   It might be why the divide isn’t as strong as states.

4. Quite. Outside of the cities, Michigan is extremely conservative/MAGA.

5. Probably about how it is every where else. You can find super rural and urban.

6. I mean…

7. Bruh. We have Detroit and the Upper Peninsula and literal uninhabited islands.

8. Yes.

9. Extreme, very extreme

10. Very. Eastern Washington and parts of western Washington are conservative, while the urban areas of west Washington are much more progressive and liberal.

11. Not very. I think the reason is that there isn’t a lot of separation between the two areas so each group interacts with the other frequently.

12. Pennsyltucky

13. Not actually a whole lot. Most of Wyoming is rural. And the bigger “cities” are not really big, bustling metropolises. They still maintain and fairly decent “small town” vibe.

14. Even in the most rural areas of RI, you won’t be more than like 15 minutes from a pretty urban area

15. Illinois is one of the best examples of this. The population of Chicago and its suburbs accounts for 75% of the population, but less than 5% of the total area of the state.

16. Very, we have a persistent problem with gerrymandering as a result of it.

17. Very much so. Texas is a big sea of red with blue islands at the cities.

18. If you mean culturally, then in Florida it’s less urban/rural, though that is a thing, and more north/south and coastal/inland.

    About 30 minutes heading east on the highway puts you in West Palm Beach, and even though where I’m at is still too dense to be considered truly rural, there’s a big difference. Head further south into ~~Coward~~ Broward County and things start to feel a little alien.

19. I live in Phoenix. We are surrounded by desert. There is hardly any semblance of rural life in the Sonoran desert. You would need to head up to the mountains to find anything rural. So I guess I would say non existent

20. The immediate DC suburbs in northern VA are some of the richest and densest parts of the country. Southwestern VA is straight up Appalachia. There’s plenty of places that straddle the line but the extremes are very different.

21. Maine… what’s urban?

22. Suburbs are a lot whiter, their poor neighbourhoods (where they exist at all) are more hidden, and their liberalism is of a more centrist/business-friendly leaning compared to cities, but other than that it’s not that sharp of a contrast. A lot of wealthier people from Boston and Metro West summer on the Cape & Islands, so the population isn’t totally static.

23. Very strong, not just culturally but politically. One of the state’s favorite past times is micromanaging the cities of this state and particularly Indianapolis. The state has passed a number of pre-emption laws including:

    * Cities can not set more strict laws on short term rentals than what is set in state law
    * Cities can’t charge more than $5 for a pre-inspection on rental units to ensure it is up to code and habitable. Because this fee is set so low for code enforcement, most cities don’t perform this inspection
    * cities can’t regulate single use plastics
    * Indianapolis is not allowed to have light rail
    * Public transit expansion in Indianapolis must set up a non-profit foundation and that foundation must fund 25% of the public transit expansion. This is the only major city in the nation that is required by law to fundraise for public transit.

    The state is very concerned about the growing and economically strong Indianapolis rather than the 42 mostly rural counties that have a net job loss and net population loss.

24. I live in Nebraska. Believe it or not even here its stark. So stark we split our electoral votes so that our 1 major city could vote blue instead of red and with the rest of the state. And despite the fact that about half of our congressional state districts are in the two largest cities (aka where all the people are) the remaining bits of the state get super angry that the cities are telling them what to do again. This comes up frequently in bill debates.