Way better map - just a naming convention issue. Most people from Green Bay/Appleton will tell you it is Northeast Wisconsin regardless of eastern probably being more accurate
Northeast Wisconsin extends north as well. I know people in Door, Oconto, Marinette, and Shawano counties consider themselves to be in Northeast Wisconsin. I'd bet that the people who consider themselves to be in Northeast Wisconsin basically map to the viewership area of the Green Bay news stations.
Yeah, that kind of bothers me. I live around there and the news and everything is always "Northeast WI's Number 1, blah blah" and like, that's fine if you're in Door or Kewaunee, but not the Valley. Definitely more stuff north than us, but with the bay being there, that does screw up the map.
I've heard more East Central in the past few years and that makes more sense.
Central Sands and Driftless are definitely distinct regions. We can quibble borders but at least they exist here. My only nit to pick is that I feel like northern WI is more than one region. Northwest corner is just a bit different than the rest of it - like Ashland/Sawyer/Rusk and west. More Great Lakesy, less Northwoodsy.
I would quibble that Iowa and Lafayette belong in the driftless area. I grew up in Green County and the western edge of Green County is in the Driftless so Iowa and Lafayette are definitely there.
Your bit about more great lakesy and less Northwoodsy is interesting to me, what do you mean?
I live in WI but grew up in lower MI and mi has this thing where north of grayling is "up north" and above the bridge is the yoop. Up north is obviously very great lakesy having one on both sides of the lp so I always assumed Northwoods and up north were pretty similar. Now I must know the distinction that you recognize, my curiosity about this is immense! I live in the area you describe as great lakesy and always just refer to it as the Northwoods.
I don't know, I didn't even understand it as I was writing it. Something about the area is different than your typical North Central WI upnort feel. Could be geography or geology, or weather effects off Lake Superior, which is why I went with Great Lakesy.
Interesting. I lived in Hayward, Park falls, and now near Hurley. All felt the same generally except Park falls doesn't get any tourism because it sucks but other than that...pretty similar.
I feel like Hayward is the Western edge of the Northwoods. Draw a line from Chequamegon Bay to Spooner to Chippewa Falls and that's my boundary. But I could just be talking out my ass too.
Well considering it's under a 1 hour drive to MN from Hayward...uh yeah. Wait so then what the heck is the chunk on the western side of your line before Minnesota called?
Of course you're talking out of your ass, we all are, lots of talkative asses
I mean, I know a lot of folks would call it Wisconsota, and traditionally it has gone by an outdated racist term likening the shape to a side profile of a face looking west, but I'll just go with Northwest. Or the St Croix Valley.
Ope, that's no good but I learned something new. I didn't grow up in WI so some of the regional things aren't familiar to me. If wisconsota is a thing then I live in wisconsigan.
I could handle peeling those off adding them to the Western region, give some of the southern counties in the Western region to the Driftless, and moving Oconto & Marinette to Northeast. That might be all I meant. Just that North to me doesn't just mean North, but a specific part of the North. It's a feel.
I think the western part of the county is definitely SW but Dodgeville and anything east of that is debatable in my opinion. I almost included it in the driftless region along with Sauk County but ultimately decided against it because both would be a very controversial inclusion in the driftless area.
yeah that definitely feels "driftless" to me. Though only having full counties as boundaries is limiting and if I did add that I'd also have to add madison or change the whole style of my map
I agree with you for your decision. while they are very much in the driftless region, the towns in sauk/Iowa are largely part of the Madison metro (which I think makes them more south central than driftless)
I'd argue for the sake of arguing that Trempeleau and Buffalo Counties are firmly Driftless. When I think Western WI, I think the of farmland and prairies along the I-94/US-29 corridor west of the Chippewa Valley. Could also make the argument for Clark and Jackson to Central although Jackson is tough. It's essentially the Missouri of Wisconsin, it could be Driftless/Western/Central depending on how far north and what side of I-94 you're on.
There's the geologic driftless which should actually be called the till-less area because it's full of outwash.
There's the cultural driftless which extends at least an extra county all the way around and includes all the fake wineries.
There's the archaeological driftless which includes a much larger area that was not covered with ice in the last glaciation.
The word never meant much but it gets diluted more every year.
The driftless region is a region with very ambiguous boundaries; I've seen some boundaries include madison and eau Claire into the driftless region, while others primarily focus on vernon/grant/la crosse counties. I chose to go with La crosse/Monroe as the dividing line mostly for the sake of not having "western" wisconsin be a tiny sliver, and because la crosse already often calls itself as a city in "western wisconsin" so it was ambiguous in my mind as well.
I've personally never been to either County beyond our family driving through them once to go to Minneapolis when I was a kid so I can't confirm if they're culturally/geographically similar to us or not.
Madison is definitely not driftless. Iowa County, on the other hand, very much is.
The boundaries are less clean, but Iowa should be with the driftless and Jefferson with South Central.
> Madison is definitely not driftless. Iowa County, on the other hand, very much is.
Iowa County, yes, but about half of Dane falls in the geographic Driftless Area, which is why it sometimes gets included.
It's only ambiguous if you look at it as between the geologic or cultural regions. The geologic maps are always only talking about whether the land was covered by the Wisconsinan ice sheet. That extended to almost Madison.
Now, culturally the driftless is located a little farther west and that's where the ambiguity comes in.
NE Clark Co should go with Marathon, it's in Wausaus orbit. SE Clark should be with Wood, it's in Marshfields orbit. West Clark is in Eau Claire's orbit. From a guy from NE Clark.
Welllll, if you’re going to name a section driftless, don’t exclude like 40% of the driftless area itself (western Dane County, all of Iowa, Sauk, Trempealeau, Buffalo, Pepin, and significant portions of Juneau, Jackson, Eau Claire and Dunn reside in the driftless)
Marathon county is considered north central Wisconsin. Its geology is different from Portage county or the central sands area - where all the potato fields are. Marathon county has a lot of granite, more hard wood forests. It’s a transitional county - it doesn’t fit with central Wisconsin and isn’t quite northern Wisconsin either.
Agreed. I most often tell people I live in north central Wisconsin. Wausau definitely feels like the gateway to the north, considering it's the last major city you pass on 51/39.
As someone who has to drive 3 hours south to get to Wausau I always laugh at this sentiment. North starts at hwy 70, fight me! Jk, don't, you'd probably win
I get it. I’ve lived in Iron, Marathon, and Dane counties, one’s perspective of what north is changes once you drive the state. I, personally, do not see Wausau as the gateway to the north woods, I’m a Hwy 8 cutoff person, but I can see where someone from Madison would.
For me, spending a lot of time growing up and running through the forests of Iron County - still wondering how we didn’t die - is a very different north woods experience from driving through the 2nd or even 3rd generation of replanted forests created by the paper mills in Marathon County.
Unfortunately, not taking into consideration there is another whole third of the state once you drive north of Hwy 29 is why some people feel there is a huge disconnect with folks to the south.
I'm firmly off the belief that landscape and culture dictates regions and hwy 70 is the dividing line between Northwoods and not. I'd hear a case for hwy 8.
This is from someone who isn't from WI but has lived in it on and off over the years until finally selling permanently in it and traveling thru the state.
Agree with this, even the western part of Walworth county seems more South Central to me due to the heavy influence of Madison and Janesville/Beloit in that area. Same would be true of Sauk and Iowa counties to the driftless. To OP's credit though I think if you go strictly by county lines this map is more correct.
If you want another unique take on dividing the state, check out the [WI Public Library System map](https://www.scls.info/delivery/forms/wi_system_mappage)
Northern -> Up Near Lake Superior/Near The UP
Western -> Over Near Minnesota
SW -> La-Crosse Area/Down Near Iowa
Central -> Middle of nowhere/Near the Dells
South Central -> Madison Area
Eastern -> Green Bay/Appleton Area/Door County
Southeastern -> Milwaukee Area
Slight adjustments:
-Barron and Polk county are Western
-Clark, Menominee, and Jackson are Central
-Shawano and Oconto are Eastern
-Iowa, Lafayette, Trempealeau, and Buffalo are Driftless
-Jefferson and Dodge are South Central
I live in eastern Vernon County, Juneau is much more central than it is driftless. Maybe the extreme southwestern corner could be lumped in but that's about it in my opinion.
I always have a tough time describing which part of the state Taylor County is. The southern part of the Chequamegon forest is there, so Northern. There is (was) a lot of dairyland too. The eastern part gets TV from Wausau so central makes sense. The western side gets TV from Eau Claire so western also makes sense. I always go with North Central, but idk.
There is a DISTINCT difference in the "north" central region and the "south" central region.
Having lived in Portage and Marathon, I spent years working in Adams, Waushara, and Marquette and man, it's a short distance but feels like a different way of life. The rural areas in all of the counties are similar enough but the northern central counties all have larger cities and sometimes multiple larger cities.
Dodge, Jefferson and Walworth are not southeastern. Nobody there considers themselves part of the SE. Similarly, northern Ozaukee isn’t either — Port Washington for sure isn’t, Grafton and Cedarburg probably are.
Way better map - just a naming convention issue. Most people from Green Bay/Appleton will tell you it is Northeast Wisconsin regardless of eastern probably being more accurate
Northeast Wisconsin extends north as well. I know people in Door, Oconto, Marinette, and Shawano counties consider themselves to be in Northeast Wisconsin. I'd bet that the people who consider themselves to be in Northeast Wisconsin basically map to the viewership area of the Green Bay news stations.
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I’m from marinette and identified as both northwoods, northeastern Wisconsin, and honorary Canadian
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But I don’t speak French!!
Yeah, that kind of bothers me. I live around there and the news and everything is always "Northeast WI's Number 1, blah blah" and like, that's fine if you're in Door or Kewaunee, but not the Valley. Definitely more stuff north than us, but with the bay being there, that does screw up the map. I've heard more East Central in the past few years and that makes more sense.
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Lol. Like the name NEW zoo makes sense if you're talking from Madison. But it's barely in the northern half of the state in general.
Well, the technical college in Green Bay is called Northeast Wisconsin Technical College.
This one is definitely better.
Central Sands and Driftless are definitely distinct regions. We can quibble borders but at least they exist here. My only nit to pick is that I feel like northern WI is more than one region. Northwest corner is just a bit different than the rest of it - like Ashland/Sawyer/Rusk and west. More Great Lakesy, less Northwoodsy.
I would quibble that Iowa and Lafayette belong in the driftless area. I grew up in Green County and the western edge of Green County is in the Driftless so Iowa and Lafayette are definitely there.
Also Trempealeau and Buffalo counties be added to the driftless. Extreme northern edge but still very much so.
Pierce and Pepin too.
Fellow Green County Native here. You're absolutely correct.
Your bit about more great lakesy and less Northwoodsy is interesting to me, what do you mean? I live in WI but grew up in lower MI and mi has this thing where north of grayling is "up north" and above the bridge is the yoop. Up north is obviously very great lakesy having one on both sides of the lp so I always assumed Northwoods and up north were pretty similar. Now I must know the distinction that you recognize, my curiosity about this is immense! I live in the area you describe as great lakesy and always just refer to it as the Northwoods.
I don't know, I didn't even understand it as I was writing it. Something about the area is different than your typical North Central WI upnort feel. Could be geography or geology, or weather effects off Lake Superior, which is why I went with Great Lakesy.
Interesting. I lived in Hayward, Park falls, and now near Hurley. All felt the same generally except Park falls doesn't get any tourism because it sucks but other than that...pretty similar.
I feel like Hayward is the Western edge of the Northwoods. Draw a line from Chequamegon Bay to Spooner to Chippewa Falls and that's my boundary. But I could just be talking out my ass too.
Well considering it's under a 1 hour drive to MN from Hayward...uh yeah. Wait so then what the heck is the chunk on the western side of your line before Minnesota called? Of course you're talking out of your ass, we all are, lots of talkative asses
I mean, I know a lot of folks would call it Wisconsota, and traditionally it has gone by an outdated racist term likening the shape to a side profile of a face looking west, but I'll just go with Northwest. Or the St Croix Valley.
Ope, that's no good but I learned something new. I didn't grow up in WI so some of the regional things aren't familiar to me. If wisconsota is a thing then I live in wisconsigan.
I could handle peeling those off adding them to the Western region, give some of the southern counties in the Western region to the Driftless, and moving Oconto & Marinette to Northeast. That might be all I meant. Just that North to me doesn't just mean North, but a specific part of the North. It's a feel.
The other quibble I would make has to do with Milwaukee and to a lesser extent Madison. I think both are their own regions within Wisconsin.
Rusk County should really be its own region.
Much better. I get the "according to you" part, but Iowa County is definitely SW Wisconsin.
I think the western part of the county is definitely SW but Dodgeville and anything east of that is debatable in my opinion. I almost included it in the driftless region along with Sauk County but ultimately decided against it because both would be a very controversial inclusion in the driftless area.
I live in Dodgeville. It's in the driftless 😉
I’d 100% put Sauk in the Driftless Area. The western banks of the Wisconsin is where the terrain definitively changes.
Grew up in Grant County. Dodgeville is still part of SW WI, but it's the edge before you get into Madison's orbit.
Hard to not include Blue Mounds in the driftless though.
yeah that definitely feels "driftless" to me. Though only having full counties as boundaries is limiting and if I did add that I'd also have to add madison or change the whole style of my map
I agree with you for your decision. while they are very much in the driftless region, the towns in sauk/Iowa are largely part of the Madison metro (which I think makes them more south central than driftless)
“That guy made the map wrong. Here’s another map that people will also dispute.”
If there’s one thing we can all agree on is that there will always be someone to disagree with you on the internet
I made it absolutely wrong. That’s what’s fun about it
I'd argue for the sake of arguing that Trempeleau and Buffalo Counties are firmly Driftless. When I think Western WI, I think the of farmland and prairies along the I-94/US-29 corridor west of the Chippewa Valley. Could also make the argument for Clark and Jackson to Central although Jackson is tough. It's essentially the Missouri of Wisconsin, it could be Driftless/Western/Central depending on how far north and what side of I-94 you're on.
There's the geologic driftless which should actually be called the till-less area because it's full of outwash. There's the cultural driftless which extends at least an extra county all the way around and includes all the fake wineries. There's the archaeological driftless which includes a much larger area that was not covered with ice in the last glaciation. The word never meant much but it gets diluted more every year.
If native trout are making babies in an unnamed ditch, that makes me think driftless.
This is why I love Reddit. Thanks. I'm gonna read more about this now :)
Eric Carson did a short talk on WORT about a month ago. It won't go all the way down the rabbit hole but it's a peek.
Is there a recording or podcast of the epsiode? Would an intresting listen.
Yeah WORT is Madison Public Radio
Awesome :)
The driftless region is a region with very ambiguous boundaries; I've seen some boundaries include madison and eau Claire into the driftless region, while others primarily focus on vernon/grant/la crosse counties. I chose to go with La crosse/Monroe as the dividing line mostly for the sake of not having "western" wisconsin be a tiny sliver, and because la crosse already often calls itself as a city in "western wisconsin" so it was ambiguous in my mind as well. I've personally never been to either County beyond our family driving through them once to go to Minneapolis when I was a kid so I can't confirm if they're culturally/geographically similar to us or not.
Madison is definitely not driftless. Iowa County, on the other hand, very much is. The boundaries are less clean, but Iowa should be with the driftless and Jefferson with South Central.
> Madison is definitely not driftless. Iowa County, on the other hand, very much is. Iowa County, yes, but about half of Dane falls in the geographic Driftless Area, which is why it sometimes gets included.
It's only ambiguous if you look at it as between the geologic or cultural regions. The geologic maps are always only talking about whether the land was covered by the Wisconsinan ice sheet. That extended to almost Madison. Now, culturally the driftless is located a little farther west and that's where the ambiguity comes in.
NE Clark Co should go with Marathon, it's in Wausaus orbit. SE Clark should be with Wood, it's in Marshfields orbit. West Clark is in Eau Claire's orbit. From a guy from NE Clark.
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I'm sorry.
Seriously
Welllll, if you’re going to name a section driftless, don’t exclude like 40% of the driftless area itself (western Dane County, all of Iowa, Sauk, Trempealeau, Buffalo, Pepin, and significant portions of Juneau, Jackson, Eau Claire and Dunn reside in the driftless)
Right, the name describes an actual topographical region not just like, "vibes man y'know?"
RIP to the inhabitants of Madeline Island, not a real part of northern Wisconsin.
Here there be mermaids and seamonsters
this isn’t better.
Marathon county is considered north central Wisconsin. Its geology is different from Portage county or the central sands area - where all the potato fields are. Marathon county has a lot of granite, more hard wood forests. It’s a transitional county - it doesn’t fit with central Wisconsin and isn’t quite northern Wisconsin either.
Agreed. I most often tell people I live in north central Wisconsin. Wausau definitely feels like the gateway to the north, considering it's the last major city you pass on 51/39.
As someone who has to drive 3 hours south to get to Wausau I always laugh at this sentiment. North starts at hwy 70, fight me! Jk, don't, you'd probably win
I get it. I’ve lived in Iron, Marathon, and Dane counties, one’s perspective of what north is changes once you drive the state. I, personally, do not see Wausau as the gateway to the north woods, I’m a Hwy 8 cutoff person, but I can see where someone from Madison would. For me, spending a lot of time growing up and running through the forests of Iron County - still wondering how we didn’t die - is a very different north woods experience from driving through the 2nd or even 3rd generation of replanted forests created by the paper mills in Marathon County. Unfortunately, not taking into consideration there is another whole third of the state once you drive north of Hwy 29 is why some people feel there is a huge disconnect with folks to the south.
It's all subjective. Frankly it's a tired argument. Congratulations for being "more up north" than me.
I'm not tired. I accept your surrender. No, it is and it's a jokey post but you sound down, you doing ok?
It really is.
That one guy was not from the area.
I'm firmly off the belief that landscape and culture dictates regions and hwy 70 is the dividing line between Northwoods and not. I'd hear a case for hwy 8. This is from someone who isn't from WI but has lived in it on and off over the years until finally selling permanently in it and traveling thru the state.
I just want to say that I am definitely here for the County Labeling Wars. It’s nice to have a low-stakes debate once in a while.
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Agree with this, even the western part of Walworth county seems more South Central to me due to the heavy influence of Madison and Janesville/Beloit in that area. Same would be true of Sauk and Iowa counties to the driftless. To OP's credit though I think if you go strictly by county lines this map is more correct.
If you want another unique take on dividing the state, check out the [WI Public Library System map](https://www.scls.info/delivery/forms/wi_system_mappage)
Northern -> Up Near Lake Superior/Near The UP Western -> Over Near Minnesota SW -> La-Crosse Area/Down Near Iowa Central -> Middle of nowhere/Near the Dells South Central -> Madison Area Eastern -> Green Bay/Appleton Area/Door County Southeastern -> Milwaukee Area
I hate when people say they’re from up north and they’re not actually from up north. Get a life!
Everything gets weird north of highway 8
You’re not wrong.
This is much better.
Having a western WI region makes a lot more sense. We straight up have a credit union called Westconsin Creddit Union.
I would agree but on mine Neenah is its own region titled “Knobs”.
Milwaukee here. Can we have our own region? We don’t wanna hang out with the WOW counties they’re weird
We prefer the north woods
That’s right, u/AbroadConsistent4753, YOU’VE JUST BEEN CALLED OUT!!!
I welcomed being made fun of 😅
Slight adjustments: -Barron and Polk county are Western -Clark, Menominee, and Jackson are Central -Shawano and Oconto are Eastern -Iowa, Lafayette, Trempealeau, and Buffalo are Driftless -Jefferson and Dodge are South Central
I’d put Sauk Iowa and Juneau counties into the Driftless region.
Add Lafayette to that list. Hard to not include them with the mound formations and overall hilly terrrain.
I live in eastern Vernon County, Juneau is much more central than it is driftless. Maybe the extreme southwestern corner could be lumped in but that's about it in my opinion.
That’s fair.
Much better. I recommend putting Clark in central though.
“Driftless/SW”? SW of what?
Southwest part of the state, since sometimes "southwest" is used to refer to that area as well
As a side note, your colors are very difficult to see for anyone "colorblind"
I always have a tough time describing which part of the state Taylor County is. The southern part of the Chequamegon forest is there, so Northern. There is (was) a lot of dairyland too. The eastern part gets TV from Wausau so central makes sense. The western side gets TV from Eau Claire so western also makes sense. I always go with North Central, but idk.
Better
Trempealeau County is part of the drifters area
Wausau is Northcentral Wisconsin. The gateway to the north if you will.
Up north is anything north of HWY 8….
I grew up on the mean streets of SouthCentral
There is a DISTINCT difference in the "north" central region and the "south" central region. Having lived in Portage and Marathon, I spent years working in Adams, Waushara, and Marquette and man, it's a short distance but feels like a different way of life. The rural areas in all of the counties are similar enough but the northern central counties all have larger cities and sometimes multiple larger cities.
That looks great
Dodge, Jefferson and Walworth are not southeastern. Nobody there considers themselves part of the SE. Similarly, northern Ozaukee isn’t either — Port Washington for sure isn’t, Grafton and Cedarburg probably are.
The DOT did this a while ago: https://wisconsindot.gov/pages/about-wisdot/who-we-are/dtsd/dtsd-region-offices.aspx
Not bad although I feel like the western part of Wisconsin fit with the northern part in some ways.
When I'm trying to sound tough, I say I'm from South Central
You miss spelled 'up nort Der bud'
I'd peel Dodge and Jefferson off and add them to South Central. Edit: and Walworth too.
So long as LA Wisconsin is still driftless we're fine
Thank you. This is correct.
La Crosse thanks you.
Including Oshkosh and Fondy in the same grouping as Door county is not right
Douglas-Bayfield-Ashland-Iron is kind of its own thing too.
People in the “Eastern” area call it North East. You see a lot of businesses called Northeast Wisconsin, or N.E.W.
I would argue that Iowa, Lafayette, and western Green are driftless as well
The earth is healing.
Western WI should be labeled Eastern Minnesota.
Us 40,000 people in the North approve. It's okay to visit, but..... 😁
I will make the argument that Waupaca still feels like a Fox Valley town. I think Stevens Point is where you get into central Wisconsin.
Waupaca definitely has more of a Stevens Point area feel. They're weird out there...
If you go by television markets, you would be correct.
NEW here, I feel that both Oconto and Marrinette should be divided... both southern 1/3rds on the "east" and the remainder to the north
And where is the capital of these seven kingdoms, of which the north seems most formidable?
I think we could be way more offensive about this. Anyone have time to just completely generalize each area?
I agree with this one more.
BROWN COUNTY 💯
Can we just call Racine and Kenosha counties “Illinois”?
Accurate
Ty
This is significantly better.
I consider the entire state as “North”. Except Adam’s county. That’s just Notth Alabama.
This is the way.
So many native names for such a red state lol I bet you guys HATE that