Southeastern United States
|Southeast Region of the United States of America|
|Total||580,835 sq mi (1,504,360 km)|
|Land||540,511 sq mi (1,399,920 km)|
|Water||40,324 sq mi (104,440 km) 6.9%|
|Density||150.5/sq mi (58.1/km)|
|Time zone||EST (UTC-5)/CST (UTC-6);|
|Summer (DST)||EDT (UTC-4)/CDT (UTC-5);|
The Southeastern United States, also referred to as the American Southeast or simply the Southeast and sometimes simply the South, is, broadly, the eastern portion of the Southern United States and the southern portion of the Eastern United States.
There is no official U.S. government definition of the region, through various agencies and departments use different definitions.
The US Geological Survey considers the Southeast region to be Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee, plus Puerto Rico and the U.S. . The Virgin Islands
There is no official Census Bureau definition of the southeastern United States; instead, they divide a larger region including Texas and Oklahoma designated as the "South" into three subregions none of which are conventionally considered to define the southeast.
The nonprofit American Association of Geographers defines the southeastern United States as Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.
Most populous states
The most populous states in the region are Florida (20,612,439), followed by Georgia (10,310,371) and North Carolina (10,146,788).
|State||2017 estimate||2010 census||Change||Land area||Density|
|Alabama||4,874,747||4,779,736||+1.99%||50,645 sq mi (131,171 km)||96.3/sq mi (37.2/km)|
|Arkansas||3,004,279||2,915,918||+3.03%||52,035 sq mi (134,771 km)||57.7/sq mi (22.3/km)|
|Florida||20,984,400||18,801,310||+11.61%||53,625 sq mi (138,887 km)||391.3/sq mi (151.1/km)|
|Georgia||10,429,379||9,687,653||+7.66%||57,513 sq mi (148,959 km)||181.3/sq mi (70.0/km)|
|Kentucky||4,454,189||4,339,367||+2.65%||39,486 sq mi (102,269 km)||112.8/sq mi (43.6/km)|
|Louisiana||4,684,333||4,533,372||+3.33%||43,204 sq mi (111,898 km)||108.4/sq mi (41.9/km)|
|Mississippi||2,984,100||2,967,297||+0.57%||46,923 sq mi (121,531 km)||63.6/sq mi (24.6/km)|
|North Carolina||10,273,419||9,535,483||+7.74%||48,618 sq mi (125,920 km)||211.3/sq mi (81.6/km)|
|South Carolina||5,024,369||4,625,364||+8.63%||30,061 sq mi (77,857 km)||167.1/sq mi (64.5/km)|
|Tennessee||6,715,984||6,346,105||+5.83%||41,235 sq mi (106,798 km)||162.9/sq mi (62.9/km)|
|Virginia||8,470,020||8,001,024||+5.86%||39,490 sq mi (102,279 km)||214.5/sq mi (82.8/km)|
|West Virginia||1,815,857||1,852,994||−2.00%||24,038 sq mi (62,259 km)||75.5/sq mi (29.2/km)|
|Total||83,715,076||78,385,623||+6.80%||526,874 sq mi (1,364,597 km)||158.9/sq mi (61.3/km)|
Puerto Rico and the U.S. are located southeast of Virgin IslandsFlorida, and are considered to be in the South / Southeastern U.S. by the FAA, Agricultural Research Service, and the U.S. . National Park Service
|Territory||2019 estimate||2010 census||Change||Land area||Density|
|Puerto Rico||3,193,694||3,725,789||−14.28%||3,459 sq mi (8,959 km)||923.3/sq mi (356.5/km)|
|U.S. Virgin Islands||106,235||106,405||−0.16%||134 sq mi (346 km)||795.2/sq mi (307.0/km)|
Main article: Culture of the Southern United States
The predominant culture of the Southeast has its origins with the settlement of the region by European colonists and African slaves in the 17th to 19th centuries, as large groups of English, Scottish and Ulster-Scottish, Germans, Spanish, French, and Acadians migrated to the region.
Since the late 20th century the New South has emerged as the fastest-growing area of the United States economically.
Multiculturalism has become mainstream in the Southeastern states.
African Americans remain a dominant demographic at around 30% of the total population of the Southeast.
The New South is built upon the metropolitan areas along the Interstate 85 corridor.
Cities include Birmingham, Atlanta, Greenville, Spartanburg, Charlotte, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, and Raleigh-Durham.
Most of the southeastern part of the United States is dominated by the humid subtropical climate (Cfa/Cwa).
As one nears the southern portions of Florida, the climate gradually becomes tropical as winters are freezing free and all months have a mean temperature above 64.4 °F (18.0 °C) (the defined coldest monthly mean temperature of tropical climates).
Seasonally, summers are generally hot and humid throughout the entire region.
Daytime highs are often in the upper 80s to lower 90s F. Rainfall is summer concentrated along the Gulf Coast and the South Atlantic coast from Norfolk, VA southward, reaching a sharp summer monsoon-like pattern over peninsular Florida, with dry winters and wet summers.
Sunshine is abundant across the southeastern United States in summer, as the rainfall often comes in quick, but intense downpours.
The mid-South, especially Tennessee, and the northern halves of Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia, have maximum monthly rainfall amounts in winter and spring, owing to copious Gulf moisture and clashes between warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico and cold, dry air from Canada during the cold season.
Winters are cool in areas like Tennessee and western North Carolina, with average highs in the 45 °F (7 °C) range in January.
Farther south, winters become milder across interior eastern North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama, with average January highs in the 53 °F (12 °C) range.
As one nears the Gulf of Mexico coastal plain and coastal areas of Georgia and the Carolinas, winters become warm, with daytime highs near or over 60 °F (16 °C), until far enough south in central Florida where daytime highs are above 70 °F (21 °C).
Winters tend to be very dry and sunny across Florida, with a gradual increase in winter rainfall with increasing latitude, especially west of the Appalachian Mountains.
These are the largest cities in the Southeastern region of the United States by population, according to the United States Census Bureau:
|3||Washington||District of Columbia||672,228|
|—||San Juan||Puerto Rico||318,441|
- ^ a: Jacksonville, Louisville, Nashville, Augusta and New Orleans are consolidated city-counties/parishes. Therefore the population given is for the entire city excluding other incorporated places lying within the county limits.
Metropolitan Statistical Areas
These are the metropolitan areas of the Southeastern region which exceed 1 million in population according to the United States Census Bureau's 2019 estimates:
Combined Statistical Areas
Beyond Megalopolis by Virginia Tech's Metropolitan Institute, an attempt to update Jean Gottmann's work with current trends, defines two "megapolitan areas" contained within the Southeast, out of a total of ten such areas in the United States:
- "Piedmont" extending from North Carolina to Alabama
- "Peninsula" covering South Florida and Central Florida
Two others tie some areas on the margins of the Southeast to urban centers in other regions:
- "Gulf Coast" extending as far east as the western tip of Florida
- "Northeast" including much of Maryland and eastern Virginia
These are the combined statistical areas of the Southeastern region which exceed 1 million in population according to the United States Census Bureau's 2016 estimates.
Note that the metropolitan areas of Tampa and Richmond are not included in any CSAs, so they are included in the table without constituent areas.
Although American football is prevalent across the United States, it is especially pervasive in the Southeast.
With a total of nine (9) franchises — the Atlanta Falcons, the Baltimore Ravens, the Carolina Panthers, the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Miami Dolphins, the New Orleans Saints, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Tennessee Titans, and the Washington Football Team — across the region, the National Football League (NFL) maintains a stronger commercial presence than any other major North American professional sports league.
The Southeast has seven (7) National Basketball Association (NBA) franchises: the Atlanta Hawks, the Charlotte Hornets, the Memphis Grizzlies, the Miami Heat, the New Orleans Pelicans, the Orlando Magic, and the Washington Wizards.
The Atlantic Coast Conference is an NCAA Division 1 conference of mainly Southeastern college teams, including the Florida State Seminoles, Louisville Cardinals, Miami Hurricanes, Clemson Tigers and Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, Wake Forest Demon Deacons, Duke Blue Devils, North Carolina Tar Heels, NC State Wolfpack, Virginia Tech Hokies, and Virginia Cavaliers.
The Southeastern Conference is also an NCAA Division 1 conference of Southeastern college teams, including the Alabama Crimson Tide, Arkansas Razorbacks, Auburn Tigers, Kentucky Wildcats, Ole Miss Rebels, Florida Gators, South Carolina Gamecocks, Tennessee Volunteers and Georgia Bulldogs, Mississippi State Bulldogs, and Vanderbilt Commodores.
The majority of NASCAR teams are headquartered in the Charlotte area along with the sports operations headquarters and media outlets.
Tracks in the region include Daytona International Speedway, Homestead-Miami Speedway, Talladega Superspeedway, Bristol Motor Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Darlington Raceway, Kentucky Speedway, Martinsville Speedway, and Richmond International Speedway.
The Derby is considered the western leg of the crown and the Preakness is traditionally considered the southern leg.
- Hammock (ecology) – Southeastern habitat
- Southeastern mixed forests – Southeastern habitat
- Black Belt in the American South
Credits to the contents of this page go to the authors of the corresponding Wikipedia page: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southeastern United States.