If you know anything about Pennsylvanians, it\u2019s probably that we hold strong opinions about our home.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, PA Local asked our newsletter and social media audience<\/a>: \u201cWhen people ask you which part of Pennsylvania you\u2019re from, what do you say?\u201d The question prompted well over 200 responses via Instagram, YouTube, Threads, Bluesky, Facebook, X, and email.<\/p>\n They ranged from single-word social media comments to multi-paragraph emails explaining the nuances of local naming conventions. People shared their thoughts on when and whether you can say you\u2019re \u201cfrom\u201d a particular city, which areas do and don\u2019t count as part of [fill-in-the-blank region], and why where they\u2019re from is the real \u201ccentral Pennsylvania.\u201d<\/p>\n After going through these responses and having follow-up discussions with Pennsylvanians by phone and email, studying maps, and consulting geography and history experts, I arrived at a few general conclusions.<\/p>\n Regions do matter to Pennsylvanians, and we\u2019re very willing to debate what to call an area and which qualities define it. Trying to delineate the boundaries of a particular region is a challenge that, in many cases, lacks a universal answer.<\/p>\n But that doesn\u2019t mean we don\u2019t want to at least try to find consensus \u2014 or discover where it\u2019s impossible.<\/p>\n As part of a series exploring Pennsylvania regions, their names, their identities, and whether it all matters, PA Local needs you to weigh in on how you think the state\u2019s areas should be defined.<\/p>\n Each question in the survey below gives the name of a region and four maps of Pennsylvania to choose from. The maps all have a different set of counties highlighted in purple and include cities and boroughs for reference. The highlighted counties are listed below the maps.<\/p>\n Pick the map that most closely represents your personal understanding of the given region. There are no \u201cright\u201d or \u201cwrong\u201d answers; the vast majority of options presented reflect some government agency\u2019s, tourism bureau\u2019s, or other org\u2019s interpretation of a particular region. So rest assured that someone, somewhere, probably agrees with you.<\/p>\n The survey takes between around five minutes to complete. Please submit your responses only once. Results may appear in future reporting. Click the button below to get started!<\/p>\n If a blue \u201cTake the regions survey\u201d button doesn\u2019t appear above for you, click here instead<\/a>. Send us an email (newsletters@spotlightpa.org<\/a>) if you run into any technical issues.<\/p>\n Feeling inspired by this exercise? Draw us a map of how you\u2019d categorize different areas of Pennsylvania, and email it to Asha Prihar (aprihar@spotlightpa.org<\/a>). We may publish crowdsourced maps in a future newsletter, article, or video.<\/p>\n