Eastern United States

The area ceded to the United States in 1783 by Great Britain (in light brown) following the victory of George Washington and the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War is recognized as the Eastern United States.

A video of the Eastern United States taken by the crew of Expedition 29 from the International Space Station as it passed over the region in 2011

The Eastern United States, often abbreviated as simply The East, is a region of the United States located east of the Mississippi River. It includes 26 states and the national capital of Washington, D.C.

As of 2011, the Eastern United States had an estimated population exceeding 179 million, representing the majority, over 58 percent, of the total U.S. population.

The three most populous cities in the Eastern United States are New York City, Chicago, and Philadelphia.

Northeastern United States

New England

Main article: New England

New England, the region of the U.S. located in the northeastern corner of the country bounded by the Atlantic Ocean, Canada, and the state of New York, includes six states: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.

In one of the earliest British colonial settlements in the New World, Pilgrims from England first settled in New England in 1620 at Plymouth Colony in and around present-day Plymouth, Massachusetts. In the late 18th century, the New England colonies were among the first North American British colonies to support an escalation in the American Revolution against Britain, launching the Boston Tea Party on December 16, 1773 and later firing the first shots of the American Revolutionary War in the Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775.

New England produced the first examples of American literature and philosophy and was home to the beginnings of free and compulsory public education. In the 19th century, the region played a prominent role in the movement to abolish slavery in the United States. It was the first region of the United States to be transformed by the Industrial Revolution.

As of 2023, New England is home to three of the top ten universities in the nation, according to 2022-23 U.S. News & World Report rankings, Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey (first), Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts (tied for third), and Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts (tied for third).

Midwest

Main article: Midwestern United States

The Midwestern United States, often referred to as the Midwest, is one of the four geographic regions within the United States that are recognized by the United States Census Bureau. The Census Bureau divides this region into the East North Central States (essentially the Great Lakes States) and the West North Central States. A 2006 Census Bureau estimate put the population at 66,217,736.

The five East North Central States (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin) can also be classified as being part of the Northeastern United States.

Chicago is the largest city in the region, followed by Columbus, Ohio and Indianapolis. Chicago has the largest metropolitan statistical area, followed by Detroit, and Minneapolis–Saint Paul. Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan is the oldest city in the region, founded by French missionaries and explorers in 1668.

The term Midwest has been in common use for over 100 years. Another term sometimes applied to the same general region is "the heartland". Other designations for the region have fallen into disuse, such as the "Northwest" or "Old Northwest", deriving from "Northwest Territory", and "Mid-America". Since the book Middletown appeared in 1929, sociologists have often used Midwestern cities and the Midwest generally as "typical" of the entire nation. The region has a higher employment-to-population ratio, which measures the percentage of employed people at least 16 years old, compared to New England, the West, the South, or the Sun Belt states.

Four of the states associated with the Midwestern United States, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota, are traditionally considered part of the Great Plains region.

As of 2023, the Midwest is home to one of the top ten universities in the nation, according to 2022-23 U.S. News & World Report rankings, the University of Chicago in Chicago, which is ranked the sixth-best in the nation.

Mid-Atlantic

Main article: Mid-Atlantic (United States)

The Eastern U.S. includes the seven states of the Mid-Atlantic U.S.: Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and the nation's capital of Washington, D.C. The Mid-Atlantic is a region located in the overlap between the Northeastern and Southeastern states of the United States.

The region includes New York City, the largest city in the U.S. and a global center of finance and culture, and Philadelphia, the nation's sixth-largest city and first capital where the Declaration of Independence was signed at Independence Hall in 1776, formally launching the American Revolutionary War, and later where the U.S. Constitution was drafted and ratified at Independence Hall in Philadelphia in 1789.

As of 2023, the Mid-Atlantic region is home to five of the top twenty-five universities in the nation, according to 2022-23 U.S. News & World Report rankings: Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, Columbia University in New York City, the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

Southeastern United States

Main article: Southeastern United States

The Southeastern United States is a large region of the country that includes the states of Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi, as well as the nation's capital of Washington, D.C..

Its unique cultural and historic heritage includes the following aspects:

• Native American cultures
• Early European settlements of English, Scotch-Irish, Scottish and German heritage
• Rejecting the Anglican Church as instituted by Great Britain and resorting to other denominations of Protestantism
• Helping partake in the American Revolutionary War
• Importation of hundreds of thousands of enslaved Africans
• Growth of a large African American population
• Reliance on slave labor from early 1600s to mid-1800s
• Southern yeoman farmers that differed from the planter class
• Legacy of the Confederacy after American Civil War
• Civil rights movement
• Emergence of the New South

These aspects among other things, led to "the South" developing distinctive customs, literature, musical styles, and varied cuisines, that have profoundly shaped traditional American culture.

A shift from mainly a rural society, to more cities and metropolitan areas becoming urbanized, started to largely form following World War II in the 1940s. Since the late 20th century, certain Southeastern states and areas have seen great economic growth. This growth has led to many migrants moving to southeastern states. In 2020, Fortune 500 companies headquartered in eastern southern states included: Virginia with 22, Georgia with 18, Florida with 18, North Carolina with 13, and Tennessee with 10.

As of 2023, the Southeast is home to one of the top ten universities in the nation, according to 2022-23 U.S. News & World Report rankings, Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, which is ranked the tenth-best in the nation.

Major population centers

The following is a list of the 25 largest cities in the Eastern United States, based on 2021 population estimates:

• 
  New York City
  population: 8,230,290
• 
  Chicago
  population: 2,798,080
• 
  Philadelphia
  population: 1,603,809
• 
  Jacksonville
  population: 929,647
• 
  Columbus
  population: 913,921
• 
  Charlotte
  population: 912,096
• 
  Indianapolis
  population: 887,232
• 
  Washington, D.C.
  population: 714,153
• 
  Boston
  population: 695,506
• 
  Nashville
  population: 678,448
• 
  Detroit
  population: 664,139
• 
  Memphis
  population: 651,011
• 
  Louisville
  population: 615,924
• 
  Milwaukee
  population: 587,721
• 
  Baltimore
  population: 575,584
• 
  Atlanta
  population: 524,067
• 
  Raleigh
  population: 483,579
• 
  Miami
  population: 478,251
• 
  Virginia Beach
  population: 450,224
• 
  Tampa
  population: 404,636
• 
  Cleveland
  population: 376,599
• 
  Lexington
  population: 324,604
• 
  Cincinnati
  population: 307,266
• 
  Greensboro
  population: 301,094
• 
  Pittsburgh
  population: 299,718

See also

• East Coast of the United States