What do you consider the downstate/upstate dividing line? (Buffalo: high crime, live)

[ANM1982]

I've seen varying positions on what should be considered upstate/downstate. (Including one of my friends from Long Island, who says she considers all of Westchester as part of upstate.)

Where do you draw the line?

[ehmom]

Everything above westchester, of course!

[cali_to_nj]

[bg7]

Cali -Way to graphically get it in perspective!! Good job.

[TiberiusOfRome]

Anything north of Poughkeepsie is upstate. Most NYers tend to agree on this.

[WardEq]

(Including one of my friends from Long Island, who says she considers all of Westchester as part of upstate.)
[/quote]

As flattering as it is that LIers like to consider Westchester apart from them, if you (or your neighbors) are commuting daily to NYC you DO NOT live upstate. End of story.

To complicate matters a little but, I do tend to think of Hudson Valley as sort of a separate thing from the real upstate, i.e. Western, NY. Looking at it that way, you *could* include Westchester in HV, but upstate it is certainly not.

[Warszawa]

I think anything above I-287 is upstate

[Subseven]

NYS divides it's northern and southern zones the correct way. They call the northern half the northern zone. The southern half of the state is downstate. Regions 5 and 6 are upstate.




NYC calls anything outside of it upstate NY. The majority of NY call NYC the armpit (notice on the maps) of downstate NY. The real upstaters call anything in southern Saratoga county and south downstate. They also call NYC the zoo due to it's high crime and traffic.

[reppin_the_847]

How could anyone in their right mind call Yonkers upstate? Yonkers is closer to Midtown Manhattan than some parts of Brooklyn.

Originally Posted by ANM1982

I've seen varying positions on what should be considered upstate/downstate. (Including one of my friends from Long Island, who says she considers all of Westchester as part of upstate.)

Where do you draw the line?

[WardEq]

Subseven...sorry to geek out here but the problem with those maps is they go entirely by geographic distance. If zone 5&6 are upstate then pretty much the entire population lives downstate and upstate is mostly just the Adirondacks. You have Buffalo & Rochester downstate?

There should be some kind of population weighting to this. Problem is a strict population-weighted center of the state would probably be in upper Manhattan! Maybe *that's* why people thinks Yonkers is upstate?

I'd use NYC cultural influence as the litmus test and if pushed I'd probably agree with the poster above who drew the line at Poughkeepsie. I have friends from Buffalo who'd put it higher, though.