What are some cultural differences between the east coast and west coast of the US?

38 comments

  1. Culturally, on the east coast they do just about every daily activity 3 hours earlier than the west coast.

  2. The east coast of the US is over 2,100 miles long and the west coast is almost 1,300 miles long. There are a differences between the northern and southern parts of the coasts even. It’s too big to really be that general. And I live on the Gulf coast. We are totally different from the other 2.

  3. East coasters watch the sunrise over the ocean, west coasters watch the sunset over the ocean.

  4. After living in Jacksonville for 7 years, I respectfully say that the east coast is as wild and crazy and fun and dangerous as the west coast.

  5. If you’re on the East Coast and you see someone wearing a full suit, they’re probably doing pretty well for themselves.

    If you’re on the West Coast and you see someone wearing jeans and a hoodie, they’re probably doing pretty well for themselves.

  6. The east coast very clearly doesn’t have a single culture, unless perhaps you’re one of those people who defines “east coast” as being limited to that part of the coast north of the Mason-Dixon Line.

    The northern part of the east coast is stereotyped as urban, intense, competitive, and less affable. Food is eclectic. The southern part, except for much of southern FL, is stereotyped as Southern, so less intense, more interested in talking with strangers, still having formalities in language, and while various cuisines can certainly be found, there’s a distinct southern cuisine as well.

    The west coast is stereotyped as being more laid back, especially with regard to dress. I’m sure there are distinct differences between LA, SF, Portland, and Seattle, among other places, but I’m not sufficiently familiar to go into more details. Obviously I’m focusing on the coastal regions, as the interiors and eastern parts of those states are different. The coastal region doesn’t get the severe winters of the northeast and seems to have more of an outdoor activity culture than the east coast. Seattle has the reputation for being harder to make friends than even Boston, but I don’t know how true that is.

    You’ll notice I used “stereotyped” a lot. Few people are sufficiently familiar with both coasts to give reliably factual data. Even people who moved from one coast to the other, and there are plenty of those, usually haven’t lived up and down the entire lengths of the coasts.

  7. East coasters (or at least people in New York and New Jersey) speak much faster than people in the West coast.

  8. Generally speaking:

    * West Coast is more laid back whereas East Coast is more formal
    * East Coast is more blunt (sometimes considered rude) whereas West Coast is more passive aggressive
    * East Coast is faster paced
    * East Coast IPAs are juicy and sweeter, West Coast IPAs are hoppy and bitter

    These are just stereotypes of course, so your mileage will vary (except for the IPAs).

    Generally comes from the image of a beach bum vs Ivy League or hip tech startup vs stuffy Wallstreet banker.

  9. My best friend is a New Yorker, i’m a Montanan, from what i have seen the east coast (NY) has thicker accents than we do and all sorts of slang we dont use, they say “thats hot garbage ” “on god” “dead ass” they also dont eat as much Mexican food as we do, in the west there are food trucks serving street tacos and taqueria’s are very common to see, where as in NY pizza seems to be the thing, a lot more of us speak Spanish as a second language out here in the west too, we also have a large undercurrent of western culture, on construction sites you’ll see everyone wearing Carharts, a group of migrants talking in Spanish while a corrido plays, that isn’t as common in the East, but its a daily routine for me. Thats kind of my take on it and thats just from observing my best friend so take it with a grain of salt, the east coast is huge, the west coast is huge….it will vary region to region. I think its funny people come to Montana and think its going to be just like that stupid show Yellowstone and they just find a bunch of hip hop head snowboarders that drink too much and they’re like “this isn’t like the show at all!” Hahaha

  10. On the east coast they have sunrise over the ocean and sunset over land, whereas on the west coast they have sunrise over land and sunset over the ocean.

  12. They have long, skinny sticks of butter on the east coast. The west coast has the short, chubby sticks.

  13. In the east coast, we don’t mix words, we’ll tell you to fuck off to your face, we say we mean and mean what we say. Some people think we’re rude, I ask those people to dig a trench and then cry me a river because if you can’t handle it, you shouldn’t have come, not to mention I get enough of people flocking in to stare at my leaves.

  14. You’ll hear people say that the West Coast is more laid back in terms of dress, and that’s true to an extent. What they don’t tell you is that the fleece jackets and molded sandals the Pacific NW people are wearing to work can cost a lot more than a typical suit.

  15. East Coast uses Hellmann’s mayonnaise. West Coast uses Best Foods mayonnaise. Yes, it’s the same mayo.

  17. There’s the running stereotype that west coast is nice, but not kind, and that east coast is not nice, but kind.

    Example: you get a flat tire, the west coast person will express sympathy about how much that would suck, say they’re sorry and drive off. The East coast person will call you an idiot for getting a flat, not knowing how to change a flat or not taking care of your car, but will help you change your tire.

  19. As someone from California now in NYC:

    West Cost: pace is slower and “chill;” more casual; people may appear “fake”; flakiness is more common; having a car is seen as a symbol and source of freedom; less celebrations of the seasons since they don’t experience four distinct seasons and it’s sunny and pleasant year-round.

    East Coast: people are blunter; faster; most won’t mind your presence and will even ignore you, but if you need help, they’ll offer a hand; comfortable with/uses public transportation and in NYC, having a car is a burden; pedestrian lifestyle; really lives up the summer season since it is very fleeting and we freeze our asses off for 6 months out of the year, so we better enjoy the good weather while we have it.

    There are different ethnic groups that are in larger/less numbers in each region as well, so that also impacts local culture. For example, the Mexican American community is much larger on the West Coast, whereas Italian and Irish influence is bigger on the East Coast.

  20. Apparently my use of the word hella is a big indicator that I’m from California, or so I’ve been told. Oh and I go surfing all the time and have celebrity friends. And people on the east coast eat their own boogers.

  23. Biggest difference I experienced is appointments/meetings. On the east coast it felt like if you aren’t 15 minutes early you are late. West coast I just assume people are going to be 15 minutes late because that is usually the case.

  25. For whatever reason the west coast seems to have a lot more shitty and insufferable people. Especially California

  27. Born and raised in the East, have lived in the West more than 1/2 my life. Eastern folks always in a hurry, they’re more formal, and far more judgmental. I would never move back.

  30. The East Coast is not the exact opposite of the West Coast like foreigners might think. North vs south is a stronger dichotomy, urban vs rural, or you can break things down into regions (mountain west, Midwest, New England, Deep South) to get more interesting comparisons

  31. Speed limits tend to be higher the further west you go. Highly correlated with population density I’m sure.

  34. – the East coast has more history, and more evident European roots. – a lot of town architecture will bare resemblance to European homes of those who built them. – most of the country’s history is rooted on the east coast.

    – the west coast is vast. The gateway of the American frontier. There is still pockets of old towns that bare resemblance of old west cowboy towns – something that does not exist on the east coast.

    – the west coast has more variance in climates. There are rainforests, sunny beaches, deserts, old growth forests, Arctic mountain tops – which bow reminds me of another huge difference between the two…

    – the mountains and skiing on west coast are hard to beat. You don’t have the vast mountain peaks and ski resorts on the east coast, like you do the west coast.

  35. People from the east coast (maybe just nyc?) say they are waiting ‘on’ line instead of ‘in’ line. Very strange.

  36. East coasters often move to the west coast, limit their social circles to fake people, and then complain how every west coaster is fake

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