California (a western state) is one of, if not, the richest state in the US. Why not in the west? (Before any moderators consider removing this, I am not currently planning to travel to the US, as travel in Brazil is pretty expensive)

25 comments

  1. The east has about two hundred years of a head start on the American west.

    Additionally the west is a lot more arid than the east. A lot more of it isn’t readily habitable.

  3. It’s where we started. Historically, most immigrants came in at the east coast. The country started as 13 colonies on the east coast. The west saw much later moves.

  4. Because for most of our history, it was difficult to both get to the west and live there. Less than 5 million people lived in California until the late 1920s.

  5. Look at map of average rainfall for the USA. From the great plains and westward, there is significantly less rainfall. Exception is the Pacific Northwest.

  7. The eastern US was the first part settled, so it makes sense that it would be more heavily populated. That said, it’s worth noting that California is the most populous state in the US, tons of people live there.

  10. The East Coast is more established, as it was the first region that was settled by colonists. Cities around ports had grown over many years and aren’t slowing down.

    The West has had about 200 years less to become established. Also there seems to be an exodus happening in California in general.

  11. From about the 98th meridian west it’s open desert or land with almost no rain compared to the east of there. About 80 percent of Americans live east of this line. [About 1 minute in it switches to America](https://youtu.be/wwJABxjcvUc)

    I just watched this yesterday, very interesting!

  12. The East had a massive head start on settlement, is generally more conducive to agriculture, and has been developed for longer.

  14. I suppose because colonization began from the Atlantic coast and moved westwards.

  16. The west is a lot of mountains and desert. Historically, we’ve only recently had the necessary technology to even be able to build a functioning large city in a place like Nevada, without air conditioning and long-haul trucks that would be impossible.

    The East and Midwest, by comparison, largely has a mild climate, fertile soil, is well connected to the ocean by rivers, has good access to fresh water, seemingly unlimited lumber, etc. so we’ve been able to settle and expand our cities in the east much better than in the west for the last couple hundred of years.

  17. For the same reason more people in Brazil live in the Northeast and Southeast than the Centro-Oeste or Sul……mostly earlier colonial settlement in the East.

  19. California is the largest state by population and is situated in a geographically advantageous spot. It makes sense it has the highest GDP.

    However, many people there are not demonstrably better off than many other places in the country. I grew up there and it had problems like everywhere else. Different places work well for different people depending on their needs and what’s important to them.

    As far as why the East has a higher population, well it was settled first so started growing much earlier. Also much of the west is less habitable when you consider the deserts, arid plains, and large mountain ranges.

  23. >Brazil

    You should already know the answer. It’s the same reason most Brazilians live on the east coast and not in the interior of the country.

  24. The east was settled by Europeans first (it’s closer to Europe). The east also has a geography that can sustain a larger population, whereas much of the west is uninhabitable mountains, deserts, or arid steppes.

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