What Are The 11 MEGAREGIONS Of The United States?

[@Eyeless_Camper]

I misread that as "What Are The 11 MEGATRONS Of The United States?"

[@Idk-ys7rt]

That would be a video from Alternate History Hub's second channel, wrong channel 😂

[@IRosamelia]

That would have been way cooler 🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖

[@Idk-ys7rt]

@@IRosamelia That's 12.

[@IRosamelia]

@@Idk-ys7rt Thanks for pointing that out Rainman 😅

[@nickfernandez7358]

It's nice to know that I'm not the only one

[@pureteddybear_]

Very minor correction: Alabama never claimed the Florida panhandle, but the people there did want to separate from Florida and join Alabama. By US law, however, Alabama would have to pay Florida for the land, and they were not interested in putting forth the funds to do so. The movement eventually fell off.

[@General.Knowledge]

Thanks for the clarification!

[@pureteddybear_]

@@General.Knowledge Anytime!

[@liamcollins9183]

It would also change the political outcomes in Florida quite drastically. The panhandle heavily skews Republican, so if it joined Alabama, it would probably take one or two house seats and Electoral College votes woth it, but whats left would be easier for Democrats to win in state level and Presidential elections.

[@davidkane4300]

The Florida panhandle is also informally called "South Alabama" because of the similar culture... It really ruffles some peoples' feathers, however.

[@davidkane4300]

There's a saying in Florida that the further north you go, the further south you end up.

[@bmjv77]

Most of these are a real stretch. There are pretty large stretches of rural areas between some of these cities.

[@davidkane4300]

Yeah, like there's a zero percent chance someone lives in Albuquerque and commutes daily to Denver... Unless they fly, which would still take hours of commute time.

[@danfsteeple]

Yes. I would not include Norfolk, Virginia in the Northeast. It’s 4 hours from Washington, DC

[@Sante1035]

True. OKC Metro is 3 hrs away from DFW. He did mention is was strange...but that's too far.

[@Juanesai0210]

@@davidkane4300it’s megaregions not metropolitan areas. There can be rural and desolate stretches in between dense areas that still share socioeconomic ties to each other so much so, they get incorporated into the megaregion

[@cjmhall]

@@Sante1035 OKC is closer to DFW than Houston is. There are a lot of people in Dallas with close ties to OKC, so it makes sense to include it in the megaregion.

[@ptorq]

It's a REAL stretch to include Kansas City (and to a lesser extent St. Louis) part of the "Great Lakes" megaregion. They're reasonably large cities with their own metropolitan areas, but they do not even touch each other, let alone join with Chicago's. At Interstate highway speeds, there's conservatively at least three hours of pretty much open farmland in the middle of Missouri interrupted only by Columbia (which isn't much of an interruption).

[@davidkane4300]

I didn't see KC included in the Great Lakes region (it was just circled as a metropolis in the US), but I agree St. Louis should not be included... Like you said, other than interstates that connect it to Chicago, it's hours upon hours of farmland and tiny cities in between. The culture isn't even really the same... I'd say it's closer to a south central Mississippi valley megalopolis to include Memphis.

[@asmeroe764]

I think it is saying the great lake area having STL, has to with infrastructure, there is a lot of truck and rail to and from STL to the great lake area. But just suburban sprawls, no way is half of Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio directly apart of this area.

[@jljordan1]

Kansas City, Lawrence, Topeka, and Junction City/Ft Riley/Manhattan could be its own region honestly

[@JayYoung-ro3vu]

True. You don't hear either city claim to be Great Lakes. St. Louis tends to have a more southern connection (my aunt's cooking is 'southern' and not 'northern' though she hails from there). Both 'Kansas' cities are part of the Great Plains. They will tell you so.

[@JayYoung-ro3vu]

​@asmeroe764 I can agree with it though the 'apart' should be 'a part'. 😉

[@jonasroush7521]

Bro made Piedmont sound way fancier than how we say it

[@davidkane4300]

Yeah, it's peed-mont like you're peeing lol.

[@JayYoung-ro3vu]

True! It sounded "so French".🤣

[@JayYoung-ro3vu]

​@davidkane4300 Yes. Two others are 'Spokane ( the e is silent and Raleigh is raw lee not rall lee. It's akin to we "ugly Americans calling Paris(pearis) Par is or Lisbon Lizbohn ( again, "so French"). 😆 Now, sometimes, like in Ohio, Lisbon is pronounced Lizbun (an Appalachian influenced pronunciation. Overall, he does well. ❤👍

[@anthonyhall4427]

I know right 😅😅

[@DR-gc5lm]

Fayetteville as well…😂

[@FrutoseDeMorango]

It would be cool if you continued this with other major countries like Brazil, China, India, Russia, Germany, Nigeria and others.

[@General.Knowledge]

Great idea!

[@Justlibing010]

@@General.Knowledgeplease do that man I would definitely watch!

[@amouryf]

@@General.Knowledge Canada has very interesting ones as they overlap with the U.S. in about 2 and other Megaregions would have cities in USA probably (I already know which ones would have cities in the USA and cities that overlap)

[@greasher926]

@@General.Knowledge In the case of Russia, it’s hard to find data in in English since metro areas/agglomerations are not officially tracked. But there is a Russian wiki page on it, which can be easily translated using a web browser translator extension. ru.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Агломерации_России

[@amouryf]

@Booz2010 I don’t understand-

[@blast4me754]

As an ex long haul trucker back in the early 2000's we would do whatever it took to not use I-95 going up into the northeastern areas. We would try our best to go up that way by using I-81 and then cut over to whatever area we were going to. The times I took 95 straight down through all those major cities was a complete time killer.

[@Demopans5990]

Pretty sure truckers still prefer to drop off their cargo at warehouses/transfer stations over dealing with horrendous city traffic

[@jk-jl2lo]

i just drove a stretch of 95 for spring break (from nj, staying in va) and the dc and nyc traffic is seriously killer. i've spent 30-40 min in a stretch of 2-3 miles on the turnpike up near the newark airport and that wasn't even a week day rush hour.

[@blahdblah0007]

I-95 is still horrific 25 years later. But, for example, if you want to go from Newport News / Richmond / Norfolk to DC… just take the train. You’ll spend less time if you drive in I-95 traffic but it’s usually about 45-60 minutes more and you don’t have to pay attention constantly (or even at all 😴 🍺 :)

[@Demopans5990]

@@blahdblah0007 And even if you do drive, you're spending another 30 min looking for parking, before giving up and parking either in a $3/hr garage, or 3 blocks away

[@zebrahunter6956]

As a Coloradoan, not once would I have considered anything in New Mexico part of the Front Range.

[@davidkane4300]

It's not. The Front Range as a noun is Cheyenne-Pueblo, with the former tossed in to also include Fort Collins. The "front range" (not a noun) of the Rockies describes everything on the eastern side from northern Alaska through Canada to around Juarez. Albuquerque/Santa Fe sit in the Rockies, so they don't count.

[@tomasmondragon883]

Yeah, not until passenger rail gets built to connect Denver and Albuquerque. Until then, Pueblo and Albuquerque can fight about chile. There is a shared culture, but Las Vegas, Raton, and Trinidad are too small to justify connecting the two regions into a megalopolis. Might as well include El Paso and Las Cruces if your definition of megalopolis is that loose.

[@lkj974]

The Sandias are part of the Rockies, so yeah. But as far as being an interconnected urban area, that's laughable. It's a full days drive to reach Denver from Albuquerque. And they are pretty different culturally too, although they might seem similar to someone from the east coast.

[@denver0102]

Same. I thought that the front range urban corridor is Cheyenne to Pueblo…

[@daltonmiller5590]

For real. The map in the video is kinda dogshit. All these megalopolises are real, but none of them are as big as the video portrays them to be.

[@jacoboros9647]

Representing the Piedmont-Atlantic here, I can definitely vouch for our infrastructure not being prepared for the rapid growth we're seeing. Our cities are vibrant, but our roads are congested!

[@General.Knowledge]

Hopefully with growth, authorities will be forced to invest in them.

[@matthewsalmon2013]

Because NCDOT owns all the roads and can't seem to understand how rail and bus might solve all their problems. The reason you can live in Delaware and commute 100 miles to Washington (as Biden says he did for years as a senator), is Amtrak. Greensboro/Triad can't figure out it's economic fit, but more frequent train service could make it a bedroom community for households working in Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham or likewise with Greenville, SC for Charlotte and Atlanta.

[@marlongaribay9414]

As someone who drived to atlanta frequently, the road work will never end :)

[@CesarMartinez-wi7wc]

SC is doing a lot of work in my area MB-NMB-Conway to replace old roads with new, and expanding all narrow 2 lane road into safer, less congested 3 lane (adding a turning median to 2 lane roads)

[@ajhare2]

A notable thing about the North East Megalopolis is that it pretty much is one continuously developed megaregion. You can drive from DC to Boston and always be somewhere with buildings

[@neox9369]

No, lol at you people who weren’t born or raised in that area speaking on this off of KZbin commentary. Being From DC myself, driving to NY is not straight buildings without a bit of rural and green space, that’s silly.

[@matthewsalmon2013]

The Wash-NY stretch yes, but NE is not so built up.

[@headstrong52]

@@neox9369 I disagree. The vast majority of interstate along the entire route is either surrounded by suburb/city or can't be built on for reasons of being protected, too swampy or too mountainous. There's maybe a 30 mile stretch in every state where you don't see anything, and that's a maybe. But there are smaller stretches of 95 and 495 around Boston that would also fit that definition, both of which are most decidedly "greater Boston", so I'd say it counts

[@bruhbutwhytho]

@@matthewsalmon2013depends which route you take

[@WaffleEBay12]

There are lots of forests between NYC and Boston, especially north of Hartford.

[@bryantewell]

I've been to all of and lived in 3 of these regions throughout my life. It's kinda cool seeing this laid out like this, because you can totally tell you're in most of these regions while traveling through them on the interstate. The exceptions to this are Cascadia, Front range, and parts of The Great Lakes. It's interesting that I technically grew up in the Great Lakes area, but only because I live in between Chicago and St. Louis. That area is mostly farmland, very very rural.

[@matthewsalmon2013]

Right? STL is part of an older Mississippi River economic corridor. Cheap oil broke that link and cities like Cincinnati, Louisville, and especially Memphis, Parkersburg and Wheeling are either in decline or somewhat adopted by another region.

[@MateoQuixote]

I'm excited for the Portugal megaregion video! I'm a long time subscriber an I know you're Portuguese so I'm excited to finally see a Portugal video

[@filiperosa7496]

Portugal only have 2 cities

[@General.Knowledge]

Should be out next week! Or at least sometime in March.

[@JanGenchev]

@@filiperosa7496 Two MAJOR cities, you mean.

[@sethkonoff5891]

Providence, Rhode Island is an absolutely beautiful city with so much history.

[@danielsentertainmentproduc1527]

2 upcoming video suggestions 1. Cities that lost their peak populations in history regardless of abandoned/destroyed status by either natural disasters, war, and urban decay. 2. How do Lebanon and Armenia compare?

[@tylerahlstrom4553]

Living in Albuquerque, I think it’s a stretch to include it into the Denver region. There is about a 3 hour stretch of mostly wilderness between Santa Fe and Pueblo, CO.

[@mattman505]

That’s exactly what it is “a stretch” …lol…

[@sock2828]

The Cascadia megaregion is discontiguous by design. In order to prevent urban sprawl Oregon and Washington both have really strict urban growth management laws, and housing boundries that are hardly ever expanded. The zoning laws mean about 98% of new development gets funneled into already existing urban areas. So cities in Cascadia tend much more towards growing in density over growing in size. Seattle has barely physically expanded in over 30 years because of it.

[@SMATF5]

That's really interesting. I'm from Southern California, and for the year or so that I lived near Seattle, I noticed how dense the city itself was, but with much more sparse suburbs than I was accustomed to (e.g. north Orange County or the San Gabriel Valley).

[@matthewdovidas4213]

Not to be picky, but there was either a mis-speak or misinformation put in the Cascadia region. It was said between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains but it's between the Pacific Ocean and the Cascades. Other than that this video was really informative. I used to live in the Front Range, Texas Triangle, SoCal, Northeast, and Great Lakes mega regions and I found these little snapshot views of them were very thorough and informative. Great work

[@ARabidPie]

Also mispronounced Spokane in that part. It's: spoke-anne not spoke-aine.

[@davidkane4300]

Yes, I was going to mention this... It's all West of the Cascades except for the Spokane/Coeur d'Alene metro (which almost everyone mispronounces, like Boise, which he got right), which is only loosely the same culture as Cascadia. Besides those, it's very rural and very conservative East of the Cascades.

[@matthewdovidas4213]

@@ARabidPie yeah I saw that after I was busy typing my comment and didn't hear the mispronunciations. My buddy used to live in Sunnyside, WA so Eastern WA/ID pronunciations I'm familiar with from him. He also mispronounced Piedmont by using the French pronunciation which is fair considering he's European, but t would be the same as calling Amarillo, TX with the Spanish pronunciation, it's like a cardinal sin to the locals there so it's just funny to look at how others worldwide pronounce a lot of weird quirky towns and places.

[@bunk_foss]

​@@ARabidPieI left a comment on that.

[@markw999]

I dunno, half my neighborhood here in N. Idaho are Portland refugees it seems. Culturally (not so much politically on this side of the border though) we are shifting toward a more Cascadia type culture. Spokane is probably getting more liberal, N. Idaho more conservative in the process. We were always kind of linked to the Seattle/Portland nexus anyway as Spokane just isn't that big of a city and doesn't have the diverse economy the bigger cities did. When I was a kid (80s), everybody wanted to go to the coast (many did). Now they're boomeranging right back. I'd even say the same of the Tri-Cities/Wenatchee/Ellensburg which are getting some influx of Seattle/Portland folks too.

[@leafarlopes7502]

Its always a nice day when you drop videos, abraços mano, bom conteúdo

[@General.Knowledge]

Obrigado!

[@gladiatorgreyman1285]

I would love to see a version of this with the Mega Regions of Europe. I also think it would be cool if you did a video on the currently forming Gigaopolis.

[@jonathanstensberg]

No, almost all of these regions are not even close to meeting the definition of “megalopolis”.

[@josephdegarmo]

The Wasatch Front in Utah, connecting the cities of Salt Lake City, Ogden, and Provo, is one of the fastest-growing metro areas in the U.S. There are even plans to build new locales for MLB and NHL expansion teams.

[@davidkane4300]

It is, and, interestingly enough, this is the second time this week I've heard/read articles (by different authors) that referred to the Wasatch Front as part of the Front Range (as a proper noun, which is the Cheyenne-Pueblo region, not including Albuquerque since that's in the Rockies, not at the base).

[@zyoninkiro]

​@@davidkane4300 Culturally and transportation wise, the Wasatch Front is pretty much it's own region and not connected to the Front Range. If anything, the Wasatch Front and Eastern Idaho from the UT/ID border up through the upper Snake River valley have more in common for a variety of reasons. Basically it would follow I-15 to the Idaho Fialls MSA and US-20 through the Rexburg area as well as US-91 through Logan and into Idaho.

[@davidkane4300]

@@zyoninkiro yeah, they're floating the idea of building high speed rail between SLC and Boise. If it truly was a high speed rail non-stop or with only a couple of short stops in Twin Falls and maybe Ogden, then people could reasonably commute between the two. When I was stationed in Mountain Home, Idaho, many civilians on base lived in the Boise area and took the Commuteride vanpools. They'd arrive at the van around 4am, then nap or relax in the van for the hour+ long drive (they'd rotate drivers so it was fair). So it would be reasonable for someone to get to the train and spend the couple of hours sleeping or working on the train. Of course, this would be more geared towards salaried office workers or management than hourly blue collar since they could count it as part of their work day.

[@Smile200-z4y]

I find stadium buildings really annoying. Why should we cut funding for food stamps and add taxes to people too poor to afford their $80 ticket prices to fund their own private business ventures?

[@thomasrinschler6783]

Well, you got that NHL team a lot faster than expected!

[@gamingsolveseverything]

Nice video keep up the good work

[@General.Knowledge]

Thanks!

[@ericm8025]

Interesting concept of reorganizing the United States by regions instead of states. Sounds like progress

[@flyingzone356]

This episode is very very very interesting.

[@stevejohnson3357]

Abbotsford (and also Chilliwack are also in Canada. If you ignore international boundaries, Bellingham is closer to Vancouver than Seattle.

[@General.Knowledge]

Is there much of an open border there or not so much?

[@brandongorte4746]

@@General.KnowledgeFor US and Canadian citizens, it's a fairly easy crossing. You stop at the incoming customs only to hand them your passport/passport card/enhanced drivers license (in states and provinces that provide them). You declare if you have any agricultural products, guns, and the like; they ask you a few questions about where you're going; and that's about it. Sometimes they'll do a secondary, but it's not as common. The trip can be made easier with a NEXUS card, if you cross often. At each crossing, there is no outgoing customs - the Canadians exchange their information with the US and vice versa.

[@drewsteps]

@@General.Knowledge Define "open" border. It's open, but everyone must past through customs each direction. It's very time consuming and frustrating.

[@stevejohnson3357]

@@General.Knowledge very open. And during lockdown, people could go to the Peace Park to meet up and not cross either border.

[@cobra-chicken]

@@General.Knowledge I hold a Nexus card and can usually get across the border within 5 minutes. Canadians can get a TN visa to work in the US as long as you have a US job offer and I heard there are people who commute across the border to get to work every day. There are no fences at the border. There are houses on 0 Ave with backyards opening up to the other side. It's probably the closest you can get to open border short of a Schegen area arrangement.

[@thegmanpaints]

I grew up in and around Columbia, Missouri. Honestly I'd group Kansas City, St.Louis, Jefferson City to the Lake of the Ozarks through to Springfield and Bentonville, Arkansas. even Memphis and Nashville too.

[@jamiesweitzer8469]

I thoroughly enjoyed this video. Great job! Thank you!😊😊

[@General.Knowledge]

Thanks Jamie!

[@HolySoliDeoGloria]

As many commenters have noted, most of these regions are a literal and figurative stretch to consider as continuous urban regions. As one example among many, if you go just a little bit south of Corpus Christi, there's a whole lot of nothing to drive through. If you drive from San Diego or Los Angeles to Las Vegas, you drive for hours through long stretches of unpopulated areas.

[@dontxtalk]

Most of these are a stretch. It's like Amsterdam, Paris, Madrid and Berlin being in the same megaregion. You're just pointing out big cities. The North East actually makes sense because a lot of it's actually urban and we're not connecting cities through 200kms of farmland.

[@timothypaulino8454]

As someone who lived took a trip from Brussels to Madrid, thats kinda a stretch. The regions in Europe are a little more distinguishable in my opinion. By the time you go west of Paris its clear the megaopolis centered along the Ruhr River and low country has ended. I agree some of these definitions are stretches.

[@aiocafea]

@@timothypaulino8454 centre val de loire and normandie are also noticeably empty but yeah i agree if you pass the 'blue banana' region in europe you can feel its influence, or at least see the signs if you're looking for them still, it's not like we say this because people commute from london to bruxelles, but it's clearly a line of influences that stretch across cities, it's something that you can point out if you want to build say a high speed railway

[@timothypaulino8454]

@@aiocafea I think this guy is really mixing up definitions. Great vid, but megaregions doesn't mean you are commuting between cities on the daily. But there seems to be a high conglomeration of cities within a particular region further united by maybe shared infrastructure, industry, culture, etc. In Europe the mega regions won't look like they do in America where you vast spanses that are considered regions. Europeans will be smaller and likely their cities are closer to eachother. For example the Benelux alone has 30 million people mainly within the relatively small countries of Belgium and Netherlands.

[@geoffa87]

I think what you're missing is the cultural aspect. For example, I live near Cleveland, Ohio. It's about a 300 mile drive to either Chicago or NYC on the same interstate. However, I feel we're much more culturally similar to Chicago than we are NYC.

[@YouCanCallMeReTro]

Distance isn't that big a deal in some states tho. A 3 hour drive in Montana is chump change.

[@njamison09]

I'm from Piedmont Megaregion (Memphis, TN) Lived in Northern Cali Megaregion (Oakland, CA) Currently living in The Texas Triangle (Houston, TX)

[@beezythaking4008]

dam you been livin in the hood lol

[@matthewsalmon2013]

Memphis is from an old Mississippi River economic corridor, only distantly connected to the Southeast Piedmont Atlantic region. It's probably equally (dis)connected to the Great Lakes (via STL) and Gulf Coast regions.

[@Tim3.14]

8:25 Minor nitpick: Cascadia is largely bounded by the *Cascade Range* (hence the name), not the Rockies.

[@kevinakakp9120]

It’s ironic that the largest US mega region in 2024 is the Great Lakes rust belt, the region of the country that has lost most of its population, but still contains the most people of all the regions, and includes another country…this tells me that this region will remain an important part of the country regardless if more people leave

[@AndrzejHeller]

First, I'd like to say thank you for another great video that helps me understand more about US. I wasn’t aware such “mega-regions” exist there. I think you may consider another video covering various “belts” that exist in US - Bible Belt, Rust Belt, etc.

[@AJthe13th]

Interesting video, and no hate. Okies don’t consider OKC and Tulsa part of the Texas triangle, we we don’t have a ton of interaction with them

[@autumnmoonfire3944]

As a Northeastern US resident I have thoughts. While you didn’t touch on the Montreal area I did notice that it included Plattsburgh NY, at the same time Plattsburgh is in the Burlington VT orbit as well. It faces challenges to be considered part of both, Lake Champlain is one challenge, it’s $15-30 ferry ride to get to Burlington which means careful thought should be undertaken. The international border is another, more artificial but significant challenge, while easy to cross for recreational purposes, there are barriers to living in one country and working in the other.

[@jaconator1245]

The Texas triangle should include Fayetteville and Northwest Arkansas as a whole if its gonna include Tulsa. A large portion of the population here is from the Texas triangle because of the University of Arkansas, and many many people who graduate here move to Texas afterwards. Its an 8 hour drive to Austin, but many of the people Im classmates with make that trip once every couple weeks

[@ashvanes484]

It's interesting how many commenters are strictly looking at this from a driving standpoint, in which the criteria is "I can drive [say 3-5 hours] and not see anything." I believe this type of breakout considers other forms of interlinking - cultural, commerce, business chains, rail/regional "short hop" type flights... I have been to each one, and in several, I have even been to more than one bigger city, so I get it. Is each perfectly accurate? Perhaps not, but wholesale, this makes a lot of sense to me.

[@iamshewhowalksalone820]

They don't plan on us having vehicles within the next 5 years, their plan is to make them too expensive to own.

[@sanexpreso2944]

If you make a comparison between the megalopolises of the USA and those of Europe you can see how densely populated the European ones are, for example Benelux would be a Megalopolis between 3 countries, some say that the Netherlands is like a giant city, also the Rhine-Ruhn

[@Marquipuchi]

European regions arent sprawling though. In the US suburbs connect to eachother and the land is continuously inhabited, while in Europe villages are dotted around but inbetween those and cities it is just farmland. I noticed this many times when taking the train in the Netherlands and Spain.

[@Me3stR]

With as liberal as you are applying some areas in these Mega Regions, I am surprised you didn't include Juneau in your "Pacific Northwest" Mega Region

[@Nickthedog2011]

I like this video! good idea!

[@yuckyool]

A.I. regurgitation of the landmark book, "The Nine Nations of North America". Transcribed at 2x to sound like the small print from a radio adv.

[@JerEditz]

Seems about right. I was born and raised in the SoCal region Traversing both north and south. Moved to the Piedmont Region, and planning to move to the Texas Triangle region.

[@shoto42]

Up here in PNW, a lot is up for a change which includes state borders, Eastern Oregon wants to be part of Idaho to make greater Idaho while southern Oregon and NorthCal want to become Jefferson state. I’m not sure about what may go on in Washington, but with the supposedly called ‘Cascadia’ it sounds like our communities may become one state(hypothetically ofc). The more and more I research these regions and how the different communities in them operate, it really puts into perspective that some borders might be changed in the near future(Texas ain’t changing though because they take pride in their size), and maybe we’ll get to see some of those moments in our lifetimes because that would be really interesting to live through.

[@Marinealver]

Android Netrunner had megacities the names were basically the cities at the endpoints. You had San-San (San Francisco to San Diego) Bo-wash (Boston to Washington) You even had ones that crossed international borders like Van-Port (Vancouver, B.C. to Portland, Oregon)

[@dudemckickass4785]

I love your videos! Great job! ❤

[@MarkSmith-xc2jh]

I grew up in the Southern California mega region (Orange & Riverside Counties) and still have family there. I have also (briefly) lived in the Gulf Coast mega region (Biloxi, MS) when I was in the military, also was (briefly) in the Texas Triangle (Dallas). I lived in the Front Range (Denver area and Colorado Springs) for about 25 years, Cascadia (Portland) for a couple of years, and I now live on the outskirts of the Northern California mega region (Reno, NV-about an hour and a half from Sacramento and three hours from San Francisco-over the mountains). My wife grew up in Boston and Southern NH-the Northeast region, so I’m familiar with most of these. However, I have never been to the Great Lakes (except for airports) or the Florida Region at all…

[@DeadCat-42]

It's nice to see the Great lakes region booming again, for decades the coasts lead, now the heartland is finally getting the attention it needed.

[@kc8818]

This is an excellent video. I lived in Phoenix for 5 years and I would argue that Southern California and the Arizona Sun Corridor are already touching, thanks in part to I-10 and I-8. People regularly travel between both and so much culture is shared

[@JoeCool520]

The Wasatch Front area might be considered the Front Range, but it's growing rapidly too. I love things like this video, combine that with cultures in the area and that'd be beautiful

[@evandannenhirsch4967]

this video is grasping at straws. Yes there are areas with higher population than others. Most of these "megaregions" mentioned are just arbitrary groupings of cities that have loads of rural land between them. This video is accurate and decently made it just doesn't really reveal much and seems to be trying to force an idea that just doesn't really carry any weight. A lot of these new geography youtubers have been pumping these lukewarm videos out unfortunately

[@floycewhite6991]

Drive from Tijuana to Santa Barbara, almost entirely endless city. Drive from Denver to Albuquerque? Not so much.

[@anizuniga3763]

Thank you for making the Casacdia video

[@nickmiller5685]

I never thought the day would come. I’m so happy

[@winthropthurlow3020]

From my perspective in upstate New York, I'd suggest that the north-south corridor along Interstate 81 including the cities of Watertown, Oswego, Syracuse, Ithaca and Binghamton should be included in the Great Lakes Region and that the north-south corridor along Interstate 87 including the cities of Saratoga, Glens Falls, and the Capital District (Albany, Schenectady and Troy) should be included in the Northeast Region.

[@sean668]

Agreed as a Long Islander. If you look at the state, the cultural boundary is the Mohawk Valley. From Albany down the Hudson to here, it's one unit. West and north of Albany, tracing along the old Erie canal, that's another distinct cultural unit

[@lyncourt1]

I was going to suggest the same. I grew up in Syracuse and have lived in Buffalo for 45 years. Syracuse north to Watertown and south to Binghamton should definitely included be with Rochester and Buffalo as part of the GL Megalopolis. CNY and WNY and the Southern Tier are tied together culturally, as well as structurally the the Thruway, Rt 81, and the Southern Tier Expressway.

[@tomfields3682]

​@@sean668we're not talking cultural, were talking economic.

[@mrbyzantine0528]

What was with the random music track that started playing when talking about the Texas Triangle?

[@VelocityZap]

I know right!? lol

[@rayyfire5738]

what do you mean? it’s the texas triangle theme song everyone knows it

[@SMATF5]

...I kinda liked it

[@Lisbonese]

I grew up in the NYC Metro area, it’s really packed. Chaos!! But it’s home.

[@General.Knowledge]

Nice! NY is my number one destination if I am to visit the US. Maybe it's a cliché I've been sold my mass media but I still think it's worth it.

[@Lisbonese]

@@General.Knowledge you’ll love it, there’s also a large Portuguese community there, I’m Portuguese like you but grew up there. Been in Portugal now for 4 years. NYC is a great experience for sure.

[@sean668]

@@General.Knowledge Make sure you leave Manhattan. Please please please leave Manhattan. So many tourists make the mistake of staying in this tiny little bubble and miss out on so much. Travel to Astoria, Jackson Heights, Williamsburg, Cold Spring! There's so much to see here

[@RandomRabbit007]

I've been in NYC (Queens) for 2 years now (in my 30s). Born and raised in California but here for my wife's career, I gotta say NY is fun to visit for like 2 weeks but I wouldn't recommend anyone live here. It's just WAY too many people. It creates a constant anxiety/aggression in people because the daily tasks/chores of life get WAY harder to get done when you're competing with an insane amount of people who also need to go grocery shopping, to the laundry, to the doctor, to work, etc. Human-life (and decency) have little to no value here. People are not kind, they don't make small talk, they're not "chill" like in California, they're all in an extreme rush. I can imagine a Native NewYorker is born with a sense of dread when it comes to being able to afford a life here all the while living in shoe-boxes with banged-up/scratched cars. A NY minute is like 10 seconds somewhere else lol. I have never seen more asshole drivers in my life (and I have driven in 3rd world countries that have over a billion people and I drove in California my whole life lol). Sure the food is great and Manhattan is fun when the weather is nice (which is like 2-3 weeks out of the whole damn year LOL) but after a while a skyscraper is just a skyscraper, and there is little to no natural beauty. I say NYC is great if you're in your 20s and your parents are rich lol, otherwise it's just too fuckin much in every way imaginable. Don't get me started on the morning/evening commutes. It's just no way to live. My wife and I can't wait to move back to California in 2025. We got what we needed and we wont stay a day longer but I could see myself visiting for a week in the spring (I would never come to NYC in the winter after experiencing it for the past 2 years). Whats the point of living somewhere cool if it sucks to be outside either because of extreme cold, wind, rain, heat, humidity? Fuck me. The typical touristy spots can be cool initially but after seeing it once, what then? People dont really "hangout" here. Life requires constant WORK. Gotta make that $$$ just to be able to survive. The rat-race is REAL. The speed-cameras on the road are such bullshit too. How are you gonna make it 25 mph EVERYWHERE? Atleast in California we still have 35mph, 45mph everywhere and a real COP has to give you a ticket, not some damn heartless camera. Sorry for venting, I'm done now lol. @@General.Knowledge

[@Demopans5990]

@harmansg The 25mph limit is based on the fact that in NYC, pedestrians are everywhere, and traffic laws are more like traffic suggestions. It is one of the few cities to ban right on reds after all. Even if the city raised the limit to 40, no one is going to be reaching it anyways, especially in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Wfh would make NYC an infinitely better place to live. Less cars == less cars with shorted horns.

[@zakariaalami1491]

We have one megalopolis forming in Morocco ,stretching from tangiers in the north to casablanca the economic capital of the country , this maybe even include marakesh and agadir in the south . Including more than 75% of the country gdp and 50% of the population but less than 10% of the area

[@General.Knowledge]

It's interesting how it's a pretty common phenomenon throughout the world. Really shows how we have a tendency to concentrate population and industries/services together.

[@zakariaalami1491]

@@General.Knowledge yep exactly also the attractivennes of oceans and seas due to globalization make these megalopolis almost always adjacent to maritime spaces unfortuntly to the expense of non coastal cities like my own FEZ .

[@TracyII77]

@@zakariaalami1491 Good insight. Even without the trade aspect, mankind has sought to live near water since the beginning of history. The Arizona Sun Belt mentioned in this video, despite being mostly desert, follows the water system in that region. This includes large underground aquifers. I suspect that one can trace the underground water systems in the Sahara by the location of the cities and settlements there.

[@zakariaalami1491]

@@TracyII77 yes of course the ancient civilizations all created around big rivers , nile , mesopotamia , indus valley , yellow river etc

[@gnilogaming]

Amazing intro. idk when it was added but its amazing

[@tiko4621]

6:12 would like to add. The Northern California region includes not Tahoe, but Reno Nevada as apart of this map. Which checks out perfectly. There’s been a massively growing EV/Tech industry there for the last 10 years.

[@maninredhelm]

I've seen this map before and am not a fan of it. The Northeast is the only really continuous urban/suburban region, the rest are better depicted as constellations of a few stars with black voids in between them. Giving Florida or the Front Range the fat magic marker treatment is not an accurate representation. We either need a different word to describe them or a different word to describe the Northeast.

[@JaneFromMars]

The Southern California mega region is almost entirely urban/suburban. Even the drive to Las Vegas is 2/3 greater LA and 1/3 desert.

[@grb_electric2395]

It’s interesting. Most of these are culturally diverse. The cities even are very different

[@Gyl_.]

I am from Reno, NV and Northern California stretches into Reno, not just the Nevada side of Tahoe. We are very connected to Sacramento and the Bay Area from my experience.

[@floycewhite6991]

Have you ever driven between Dallas and Houston? They're hours apart with little inbetween but rolling hills. Pretty much the same with the drive between Dallas and Austin. Most of the megaregions are Internet hype being magnified with every "new content maker" who repeats it.

[@DeflatingAtheism]

Yeah, I don’t understand how the Southern California megalopolis is continuous to Las Vegas, but the Piedmont Atlantic megalopolis isn’t continuous to Nashville and Memphis. Are the Appalachians really less populated than the Mojave desert?

[@schlieffenman957]

I love in the greater Denver metro area, so I'm always happy to see a mention of us!

[@patman147]

I grew up in the northeast. I have lived in Cascadia, Front Range, Texas Triangle, Piedmont, and now live in Florida. I hope I don't have to move again.

[@Menace..]

This would’ve been a much better video had you gotten population estimates from the same years for all the regions

[@oktoberregeln]

I live in Chicago and can tell you that southern Illinois would drop us in a heartbeat even though they need us to pay for the majority of stuff the state needs.

[@bmjv77]

And I grew up in downstate Illinois (as not everything south of I-80 is considered "southern" despite what Chicagoans say). Chicago relies on downstate to produce the goods that they rely on. When everyone continues to move out of the state because of the terrible policies of Cook county, and you're the only ones left to tax, you'll soon realize why you're dependent on downstate as well.

[@davidkane4300]

Chicago already takes the majority of state funded programs and attention of the legislature. Look at East St. Louis... It's a literal American-style ghetto that Springfield largely ignores, even though it's consistently on top of the most dangerous cities list. Per Capita, it's more dangerous than the most dangerous countries (and, according to the FBI, the violent crime rate is nearly double [96/100] that of the south side of Chicago [49/100], both of which are far higher than the US average [22/100], although property crime is actually slightly less). I rode my $1000 Specialized bike through there to St. Louis since there's a pedestrian-crossable bridge over the Mississippi near the casino, and I kept getting stuck when trying to avoid the main road since the city/county/state dumped giant piles of dirt on city streets to block off depopulated areas (presumably in an attempt to mitigate crime), some of which I couldn't get past and would have to turn around. I ended up saying screw that and was going to try my luck on the main road, cutting through a church parking lot. Church must have just gotten out as they were all going to their cars and staring at me in bewilderment, probably thinking (1) crazy/dumb/brave white boy, and/or (2), must be a cop. Nothing happened to me, but I wouldn't use my one-off experience to say it's safe when statistics show otherwise.

[@oktoberregeln]

@davidkane4300 yeah because the majority of the population lives in the city of Chicago or the surrounding area

[@oktoberregeln]

@@davidkane4300 you guys really don't understand that my point is we need each other but yall actually think you'd be fine without us. Not true

[@kevincousino2276]

If south illinois were a new state, would you stop selling food to chicago or something? ​@@oktoberregeln

[@vinny7114]

11 aircraft carriers 11 megalopolis Fine I'm reaching.

[@curiousworld7912]

I live in one of the 'close, but no cigar' areas, but I find this subject interesting. What I found to be most intriguing, was the brief mention of the mashing of these regions into more continuous borders. Those might actually make for more 'sane' politics.

[@General.Knowledge]

It is an interesting idea to think about. Borders are man-made and there's no real reason why they should be permanent if they stop making sense.

[@recoil53]

The schools and infrastructure of the 'outside' regions would certainly fall apart. This may as well be a map of the tax base of the US. The wealth disparity would drive up resentment among the 'have nots' and worsen politics, making them more conspiracy-theory prone.

[@luispolanco876]

Interesting theory. Alabama has NEVER claimed Florida's panhandle. The MAIN reason why it lacks in connectivity are natural barriers in topography and conservation of lands by the State of Florida. Starting at the northern most point of Tampa's metro area, you find protected lands that run concurrent to the coastline up from Crystal River through the Big Bend, into the panhandle region taking a break at Tate Hell's Wildlife Management area and State Forest, Apalachicola Estuarine, Apalachicola National Forest, St. Joe's Timberlands among other protected areas. You also see the same going from Big Bend towards the JAX area where you find protected areas such as the Ocala National Forest, Osceola National Forest and hundreds of smaller projects and trust protected areas that run together. Interesting fact though, Florida's peninsula megalopolis is the ONLY megaregion in the US where you can drive NINE consecutive hours without leaving a continuous urban/residential path of less than 5 miles or 8-10 minutes more than once during the entire drive.

[@PlayWaves1]

Florida Megaregion in da house!!! 👍👍

[@Bacopa68]

I live in the overlap of the Gulf Coast and Texas Triangle regions. Gotta say there are some very not urban regions once you get past Sabine River. Two of the five longest bridges in the US are on I-10 between Houston and Baton Rouge. I've been through there when the Atchafalaya basin was at full flood. It's truly land fit only for Cajuns and US army jungle training.

[@nickconner2101]

I have lived in three of these mega regions: northeast, Southern California, and currently live in Piedmont Atlantic (Northern Alabama). It will be interesting to see how these regions grow and influence American economy and politics in the future.

[@davidclayton1670]

Kinda disappointed my home in the Wasatch range wasn't mentioned. We have a small megalopolis, it even shows up on your map, it just isnt named

[@exmaarmaca]

Its like how Mexico City and their nearby cities (Toluca, Puebla, Querétaro, Pachuca) are now named Megalopolis and they share at least some stuff like twice per year checking you car or stuff related.

[@tenntech40]

I live in Nashville, im not sure i would consider it part of the "Piedmont," its fairly isolated from both Atlanta and Charlotte. Honestly, other than the Northeast, most of these "mega regions" have a lot of rural land between the cities. It takes 4+ hours to get to Atlanta from here, I wouldn't really call that the same region.

[@eastsidetactown]

The weird thing with the west coast regions mentioned, is while there's some shared culture, theyre not super well connected in the way the east coast is. Theres nothing between the Puget Sound Region and Spokane, and the same heading south to Portland. Theres also hardly anything between Sacramento and Reno, and LA and Vegas. Both Reno and Vegas sit on islands population wise, with hardly any other towns with significant populations around them

[@Z-Faction]

Born and raised in the Florida Megalopolis🤙🏻🌴

[@DeflatingAtheism]

There are alligators in Tennessee and twenty-foot palm trees in Raleigh-Durham these days. I think Florida is creeping upwards!

[@duaneperkins8329]

Never heard of Santa Fe and Albuquerque being part of the Front Range. Front Range is just Colorado and no New Mexico. The only thing connecting them is one highway with a whole lot of room between Pueblo and Santa Fe.

[@efs83dws]

Atlanta is known as the largest city in the Southeast US. However, Atlanta itself has a population of less than 500,000.

[@Jhiido]

As a Floridian I would say that Gulf Coast and rest of Florida megaregion should connect. I don't know why, but Panama City isn't included in the gulf coast region on your map even though it is a very prominent city on the gulf coast of Florida. Tallahassee should also be included without a doubt, which would connect the 2 regions.

[@darubicon1501]

I live on the southeast tip of the Sun Corridor megaregion and noticed a lot of growth in what I call "rural suburbs" or "ruburbs". These are clusters of population and infrastructure that are over 50 miles away from urban areas, but have strong socioeconomic bonds and typically Interstate or well maintained state highways connecting them. Having lived in both Florida and Arizona, I suspect the bulk of the megaregions, area-wise, are "ruburbs" with similar benefits and challenges. Maybe worth a video?

[@lane9043]

This makes me want a video for each megaregion

[@balancedgaming2103]

9 of 11 US megaregions visited here. Missing Cascadia and Florida. I've been to 45 states - missing WA, OR, ID, HI & AK. When I went to Florida it was Pensacola so barely. Cascadia the farthest that way I've been was Glacier National Park. Amazing sights but be prepared mentally for heights lol

[@willbetts]

For Cascadia, there are many definitions and maps that only include Vancouver BC, Washington, and Oregon. Having lived in Idaho, for a while I never directly assumed there was an association and didn't understand why the RPA/Government included Boise/Treasure Valley and Spokane/CDA in the Cascadia megaregion map. Though when you visit Spokane and North Idaho, the evergreen geography + mountains are very similar and share the same Koppen Climate Type, similar economies, etc. as West Washington/West Oregon. While Boise is more desert, you find a majority of new residents are from Portland and Seattle (not including California). At most, those areas of Eastern WA/North + Western Idaho are anywhere from 3-7 hour car rides to the other cities + coast. Also worth mentioning WA, OR, and ID have been associated together for hundreds of years historically dating back through to the Oregon Territory, Oregon Trail, and through to American Revolution. So while it may seem like a stretch to include Western Idaho, there's been some fair points made about how similar/close it can be.

[@cdjhyoung]

What I found fascinating was the map you created to create 50 new equal population states. That was very well thought out and I like a number of your original names. I live on the western fringe of the new Detroit state, but I wish you had a better name for that one.

[@NorthieStangl]

I find it strange that Memphis is counted as part of Piedmont but Chattanooga, Knoxville, Montgomery, Columbus, Macon, Augusta, and Columbia aren't.

[@DeflatingAtheism]

…and that it’s not continuous with the Piedmont Atlantic megalopolis, but somehow the Southern California megalopolis stretches over the Mojave desert to Las Vegas!

[@Rich-MarsEco]

You forgot the Oklahoma part of the Texas Triangle & the Salt Lake cities in your County's Map.

[@thedeadlysquidward1641]

And he also did not mention the salt lake area of the Front Range

[@Rich-MarsEco]

@@thedeadlysquidward1641 that in my comment. I edited that in immediately. Not 17 minutes later lol

[@General.Knowledge]

That is true! My mistake

[@davidkane4300]

The Salt Lake City metro isn't part of the Front Range... that name as a noun is associated with the Cheyenne-Pueblo corridor (as opposed to "front range" that could describe any area sitting at the base of a mountain range, including the SLC metro, which has it's own proper noun: Wasatch Front). The Front Range (noun) includes Cheyenne (and, as a stretch, Casper), but not Santa Fe/Albuquerque (as both of these are high elevation metros within the southern Rockies). Technically, if you're talking about the Rocky Mountains front range (geographically, not as a noun), it stretches from basically the North Slope of Alaska to around Juarez in Mexico where it diffuses into the Sierra Occidental region. There's just no land-based direct infrastructure (other than state/county roads) connecting El Paso directly north to the proper noun Front Range, or I'd say it should be included as well if we're taking liberties. There's a zero percent chance someone lives in Albuquerque and commutes daily to Pueblo (the southern most point of the Front Range, noun), for example, as it would take 5h30m to drive in the best possible conditions.

[@nicko5945]

The front range has always made my blood boil. There is absolutely no way to justify lumping in all the way down to Albuquerque in this region. I can see going down to Pueblo, but anything last that is beyond a stretch.

[@General.Knowledge]

I agree, it seems a little too much to want to group them up.

[@kazeryu17]

You say the northeast megaregion stretches south to DC, but even your own map shows it stretching further south to include Richmond and Hampton Roads Virginia. North Carolina is planning on building an interstate to connect Raleigh, directly to Norfolk Virginia via Elizabeth City, and if this goes through, it wont be long before the Northeast megaregion is basically connected to the Atlanta/piedmont megaregion enough for it to be called a giggaregion.

[@Speedj2]

I really think its a stretch to call that whole stretch of the gulf coast connected or continuous. really grasping at straws on that one imo.

[@noahmccreery9681]

gigalopolis ❌ jiggleopolis ✅

[@maynardsdick]

Here in the great lakes it's the Juggalopolis

[@VerboseDeBose]

I would argue that there's another megaregion in the Great Plains. Covering Omaha, Des Moines, St.Louis, and Kansas City.

[@GrosPointRouge]

Can you make the same video for Europe?

[@rmar127]

I’d argue that Coeur d”Alene Idaho is part of The Pacific Northwest mega region. It operates as an extension of Spokane and is actually 2 hours closer to Seattle than it is to Boise.

[@rdspam]

9:59 Hard to believe the Great Lakes region was projected to grow by 5 million but instead grew by 30 million, 53%, in 14 years.

[@hend0wski]

Im gonna go with the Cities Skylines terminology and call the next step up a Megalopolopolis

[@gregorysouthworth783]

Good video! I live in the Texas Triangle and what you mention about its dynamic nature is true. I have seen a definite frustration with the state government among many urban centers, and even their suburbs, although it hasn't fully coalesced into a more left-leaning political bloc as yet. I suspect it will over the next few years and its politics will demand a more sympathetic state government respecting the needs of a highly urban area. I also wouldn't be surprised if the Texas Triangle and perhaps the western component of the Gulf Coast Megaregion (especially Greater Houston and points southwest to Matamoros, MX) will come to definite the state and its social , economic, and political identities.

[@mariajoaoferrazdeabreu150]

Great video.

[@alvaro6989]

I am watching from Orange County,CA have been here for 28 years

[@monkvlogs]

I had this map printed out and posted on my wall growing up 🤘

[@ethanboyd2981]

Seems kind of weird that you would include cities 300 miles apart with nothing in the middle as part of the same megaregion. For example, Pueblo Colorado and Santa Fe New Mexico are almost 300 miles apart with nothing but small cities under 20k people in the middle. No one in the Santa Fe / Alburquerque area considers themselves in the same region as Denver and the surrounding cities.

[@desertdc123]

Agreed - but the largest of those towns is Las Vegas NM at 13K and shrinking. Most are less than half that size. Yet, in my last few years in ABQ, some people I knew in planning not only believed Santa Fe and Taos belonged with ABQ in a CSA (combined statistical area), so they extended that to Denver. Most people know better.