Mid-Atlantic (United States) Explained

Mid-Atlantic
Subdivision Type:	Composition
Subdivision Type1:	Metropolitan areas
Subdivision Type2:	Largest city
Subdivision Name2:	New York
Unit Pref:	US
Area Total Sq Mi:	191,299.86
Area Land Sq Mi:	174,468.45
Area Water Sq Mi:	16,831.41
Area Water Percent:	8.80
Population Total:	60,783,913
Population As Of:	2020
Population Footnotes:	^[1]
Population Density Sq Mi:	auto
Demographics Type1:	GDP (nominal)
Demographics1 Footnotes:	^[2]
Demographics1 Title1:	Q3 2022
Demographics1 Info1:	$5.233 trillion

The Mid-Atlantic is a region of the United States located in the overlap between the Northeastern and Southeastern states of the United States. Its exact definition differs upon source, but the region typically includes Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia^[3] with other sources including or excluding other states or areas in the Northeast and Southeast.^[4] ^[5] ^[6] ^[7] ^[8] The region has its origin in the Middle Colonies of the 18th century when its states were among the Thirteen Colonies of pre-revolutionary British America. As of the 2020 census, the region had a population of 60,783,913, representing slightly over 18% of the nation's population.

The Mid-Atlantic region played an instrumental and historic role in the nation's founding and the development of the nation. Each of the seven states were members of the Thirteen Colonies that sent delegates to the Second Continental Congress, which assembled in Philadelphia and unanimously adopted the Declaration of Independence, and formalized the Continental Army under George Washington's command during the American Revolutionary War. Following independence, the states again gathered in Philadelphia at the Constitutional Convention, in 1788, where they ratified the United States Constitution, which remains the oldest and longest-standing written and codified national constitution in force in the world.^[9]

The Mid-Atlantic region was settled during the colonial era between the early 17th century and the conclusion of the American Revolutionary War in 1783 by European Americans of primarily Dutch, German, Swedish, English, and other Western European ethnicities. Religious pluralism and freedoms existed in the original Thirteen Colonies and were particularly prevalent in Province of Pennsylvania and the geographic region that ultimately broke from Pennsylvania to form the Delaware Colony. Among the 13 colonies, the Province of Maryland was the only colony with a substantial Catholic population.

Following the American Revolutionary War, the Mid-Atlantic region hosted each of the historic capitals of the United States. The nation's capital was constructed in Washington, D.C. in the late 18th century, and relocated there from Philadelphia in 1800.

In the early part of the 19th century, New York and Pennsylvania overtook Virginia as the nation's two most populous states, and the Mid-Atlantic region overtook New England as the most important trading and industrial center in the nation. During this period, large numbers of German, Irish, Italian, Jewish, Polish, and other immigrants arrived in the region's coastal cities, including Baltimore, Newark, New York City, Philadelphia, and interior cities such as Pittsburgh, and Rochester, Albany, and Buffalo, with their skyscrapers and subways, which emerged as icons of modernity and American economic and cultural power in the 20th century.

In the late 19th century, the region played a vital and historic role in the development of American culture, commerce, trade, and industry sectors. Historian Frederick Jackson Turner labeled it "typically American."^[10]

The Northeast Corridor and Interstate 95 in the region link an almost contiguous urban sprawl, which includes large and small cities and their respective suburbs and forms the Northeast megalopolis, one of the world's most important concentrations of finance, media, communications, education, medicine, and technology. The Mid-Atlantic is a relatively affluent region of the nation; nearly half of the nation's 100 highest-income counties based on median household income are located in the Mid-Atlantic, and 33 of the nation's top 100 counties based on per capita income are in the region. Most of the Mid-Atlantic states rank among the 15 highest-income states in the nation by both median household income and per capita income.

The region is home to eight of the top 25 ranked universities in the nation: Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, Columbia University and NYU in New York City, Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey, the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia according to U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges Ranking.^[11] ^[12] ^[13]

Composition

Definitions of the geographic components of the Mid-Atlantic region differ slightly among sources.^[14] Generally speaking, the region is inclusive of the states of Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia, and the federal district of the District of Columbia, with some additional sources including or excluding other areas in parts of the Northeast region and the South Atlantic states, for practical reasons.

The United States Census Bureau defines the Mid-Atlantic as a sub-region of the Northeast and only includes New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania.^[15] The Bureau of Labor Statistics excludes New York; the Environmental Protection Agency excludes New York and New Jersey; and the U.S. Department of Transportation - United States Maritime Administration includes North Carolina. In 2004, the United States Geological Survey within the context of Ground-Water Vulnerability to Nitrate Contamination, defined the region as including Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., and parts of New Jersey, New York, and North Carolina.

West Virginia and Virginia are atypical of this region in a few ways. These states both primarily lie within the Southern American dialect region,^[16] and the major religious tradition is largely Evangelical Christian, with 30% in Virginia and 39% in West Virginia identifying as evangelicals.^[17] Although a few of West Virginia's eastern panhandle counties are considered part of the Washington metropolitan area, the major portion of the state is rural and there are no major or even large cities.^[18]

History

Shipping and trade have been important to the Mid-Atlantic economy since the beginning of the colonial era. The explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano was the first European to see the region in 1524. Henry Hudson later extensively explored that region in 1611 and claimed it for the Dutch, who then created a fur-trading post in Albany in 1614. Jamestown, Virginia was the first permanent English colony in North America, it was established seven years earlier in 1607.

From early colonial times, the Mid-Atlantic region was settled by a wider range of European people than in New England or the South. The Dutch New Netherland settlement along the Hudson River in New York City and New Jersey, and for a time, New Sweden along the Delaware River in Delaware, divided the two great bulwarks of English settlement from each other. The original English settlements in the region notably provided refuge to religious minorities, Maryland to Roman Catholics and Pennsylvania to Quakers and Anabaptist Pennsylvania Dutch. In time, all these settlements fell under English colonial control, but the region continued to be a magnet for people of diverse nationalities.

The area that came to be known as the Middle Colonies served as a strategic bridge between the North and South. The New York and New Jersey campaign during the American Revolutionary War saw more battles than any other theater of the conflict. Philadelphia, midway between the northern and southern colonies, was home to the Continental Congress, the convention of delegates who organized the American Revolution. Philadelphia also was the birthplace of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and the United States Constitution in 1787, while the United States Bill of Rights was drafted and ratified and the first Supreme Court of the United States sat for the first time, in the first capital under the Constitution of New York.

While early settlers were mostly farmers, traders, and fishermen, the Mid-Atlantic states provided the young United States with heavy industry and served as the "melting pot" of new immigrants from Europe. Cities grew along major ports, shipping routes, and waterways, including New York City and Newark on opposite sides of the Hudson River, Philadelphia on the Delaware River, Allentown on the Lehigh River, and Baltimore on the Chesapeake Bay.

Major states, cities, and urban areas

Metropolitan areas

**Largest metropolitan statistical areas by population in the Mid-Atlantic Region**! !! MSA !! 2020 Census !! 2010 Census
1	20,140,470	18,897,109
2	6,385,162	5,649,540
3	6,245,051	5,965,343
4	2,844,510	2,710,489
5	2,370,930	2,356,285
6	1,799,674	1,713,954
7	1,314,434	1,186,501
8	1,166,902	1,135,509
9	1,090,135	1,079,671
10	899,262	870,716

**Top ten largest cities by population in the Mid-Atlantic Region**! !! City !! 2020 Census!Total area
1		8,804,190	472.43 sq mi
2	Philadelphia, PA	1,603,797	142.70 sq mi
3		689,545	68.35 sq mi
4	Baltimore, MD	585,708	92.05 sq mi
5		459,470	497.50 sq mi
6	Newark, NJ	311,549	25.88 sq mi
7	Pittsburgh, PA	302,971	58.35 sq mi
8		292,449	21.03 sq mi
9		278,349	52.48 sq mi
10	Chesapeake, VA	249,422	350.95 sq mi

Top ten largest towns/townships by population in the Mid-Atlantic region^[19] !!Township!2020 Census
1.	Hempstead, NY	793,409
2.	Brookhaven, NY	485,773
3.	Islip, NY	339,938
4.	Oyster Bay, NY	301,332
5.	N. Hempstead, NY	237,639
6.	Babylon, NY	218,223
7	Huntington, NY	204,127
8	Ramapo, NY	148,919
9	Lakewood Township, NJ	135,158
10.	Amherst, NY	129,595

States and federal district

		State or federal district	2020 Census	Total area
1	New York	20,201,249	54,555 sq mi
2	Pennsylvania	13,002,700	46,055 sq mi
3	New Jersey	9,288,994	8,722.58 sq mi
4	Virginia	8,631,393	42,774.2 sq mi
5	Maryland	6,177,224	12,407 sq mi
6	West Virginia	1,793,716	24,230 sq mi
7	Delaware	989,948	2,489 sq mi
8	District of Columbia	689,545	68.35 sq mi

State capitals and federal district

		Capital	2020 Census	Total area
1	Washington, D.C.	689,545	68.35 sq mi
2	Richmond, Virginia	226,610	62.57 sq mi
3	Albany, New York	99,224	21.94 sq mi
4	Trenton, New Jersey	90,871	8.20 sq mi
5	Harrisburg, Pennsylvania	50,099	11.86 sq mi
6	Charleston, West Virginia	48,864	32.64 sq mi
7	Annapolis, Maryland	40,812	8.11 sq mi
8	Dover, Delaware	39,403	23.97 sq mi

Note: The Mid-Atlantic region is also home to the nation's capital, Washington, D.C.

In presidential elections

Parties
	Nonpartisan																		Progressive

Bold denotes election winner.

Year	Delaware	District of Columbia	Maryland	New Jersey	New York	Pennsylvania	Virginia	West Virginia
Presidential electoral votes in the Mid-Atlantic states since 1789
		Washington	No election		Washington		Washington		Gridlocked		Washington		Washington	No election
		Washington	No election		Washington		Washington		Washington		Washington		Washington	No election
		Adams	No election		Adams		Adams		Adams					No election
			No election		Jefferson				Jefferson		Jefferson		Jefferson	No election
			No election		Jefferson		Jefferson		Jefferson		Jefferson		Jefferson	No election
			No election		Madison		Madison		Madison		Madison		Madison	No election
			No election		Madison						Madison		Madison	No election
			No election		Monroe		Monroe		Monroe		Monroe		Monroe	No election
		Monroe	No election		Monroe		Monroe		Monroe		Monroe		Monroe	No election
			No election						Adams					No election
			No election						Jackson		Jackson		Jackson	No election
			No election				Jackson		Jackson		Jackson		Jackson	No election
			No election						Van Buren		Van Buren		Van Buren	No election
		Harrison	No election		Harrison		Harrison		Harrison		Harrison			No election
			No election						Polk		Polk		Polk	No election
		Taylor	No election		Taylor		Taylor		Taylor		Taylor			No election
		Pierce	No election		Pierce		Pierce		Pierce		Pierce		Pierce	No election
		Buchanan	No election				Buchanan				Buchanan		Buchanan	No election
			No election				Lincoln		Lincoln		Lincoln			No election
			No election		Lincoln				Lincoln		Lincoln	No election		Lincoln
			No election								Grant	No election		Grant
		Grant	No election				Grant		Grant		Grant		Grant		Grant
			No election								Hayes				Tilden
			No election						Garfield		Garfield				Hancock
		Cleveland	No election		Cleveland		Cleveland		Cleveland				Cleveland		Cleveland
			No election						Harrison		Harrison				Cleveland
		Cleveland	No election		Cleveland		Cleveland		Cleveland				Cleveland		Cleveland
		McKinley	No election		McKinley		McKinley		McKinley		McKinley				McKinley
		McKinley	No election		McKinley		McKinley		McKinley		McKinley				McKinley
		Roosevelt	No election				Roosevelt		Roosevelt		Roosevelt				Roosevelt
		Taft	No election				Taft		Taft		Taft				Taft
		Wilson	No election		Wilson		Wilson		Wilson				Wilson		Wilson
			No election		Wilson								Wilson		Hughes
		Harding	No election		Harding		Harding		Harding		Harding				Harding
		Coolidge	No election		Coolidge		Coolidge		Coolidge		Coolidge				Coolidge
		Hoover	No election		Hoover		Hoover		Hoover		Hoover		Hoover		Hoover
			No election		Roosevelt		Roosevelt		Roosevelt				Roosevelt		Roosevelt
		Roosevelt	No election		Roosevelt		Roosevelt		Roosevelt		Roosevelt		Roosevelt		Roosevelt
		Roosevelt	No election		Roosevelt		Roosevelt		Roosevelt		Roosevelt		Roosevelt		Roosevelt
		Roosevelt	No election		Roosevelt		Roosevelt		Roosevelt		Roosevelt		Roosevelt		Roosevelt
			No election										Truman		Truman
		Eisenhower	No election		Eisenhower		Eisenhower		Eisenhower		Eisenhower		Eisenhower		Stevenson
		Eisenhower	No election		Eisenhower		Eisenhower		Eisenhower		Eisenhower		Eisenhower		Eisenhower
		Kennedy	No election		Kennedy		Kennedy		Kennedy		Kennedy				Kennedy
		Johnson		Johnson		Johnson		Johnson		Johnson		Johnson		Johnson		Johnson
		Nixon						Nixon						Nixon		Humphrey
		Nixon				Nixon		Nixon		Nixon		Nixon		Nixon		Nixon
		Carter		Carter		Carter				Carter		Carter				Carter
		Reagan						Reagan		Reagan		Reagan		Reagan		Carter
		Reagan				Reagan		Reagan		Reagan		Reagan		Reagan		Reagan
		Bush				Bush		Bush				Bush		Bush		Dukakis
		Clinton		Clinton		Clinton		Clinton		Clinton		Clinton				Clinton
		Clinton		Clinton		Clinton		Clinton		Clinton		Clinton				Clinton
														Bush		Bush
														Bush		Bush
		Obama		Obama		Obama		Obama		Obama		Obama		Obama		McCain
		Obama		Obama		Obama		Obama		Obama		Obama		Obama		Romney
												Trump				Trump
		Biden		Biden		Biden		Biden		Biden		Biden		Biden		Trump
Year	Delaware	District of Columbia	Maryland	New Jersey	New York	Pennsylvania	Virginia	West Virginia

Culture

Sports

The Mid-Atlantic is home to 33 professional sports franchises in the five major leagues and the two most prominent women's professional leagues:

	NHL !	NWSL
New York/New Jersey		Gotham FC
Washington		Spirit
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
Baltimore
Buffalo

Notable golf tournaments in the Mid-Atlantic include the Barclays, Quicken Loans National and Atlantic City LPGA Classic.

Two high-level professional tennis tournaments are held in the region. The US Open, held in New York, is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, whereas the Washington Open is part of the ATP Tour 500 series and WTA 250 series.

Notable motorsports tracks include Watkins Glen International, Dover Motor Speedway and Pocono Raceway, which have hosted Formula One, IndyCar, NASCAR, World Sportscar Championship and IMSA races. Also, the Englishtown and Reading drag strips such have hosted NHRA national events. Pimlico Race Course at Baltimore and Belmont Park at New York host the Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes horse races, which are part of the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing.

Economy

With a GDP nominal of over $5.2 trillion, the Mid-Atlantic economy would be third-largest in the world if calculated separately, only behind the remaining United States and China and nearly $1 trillion larger than next place Japan. This economic prosperity is buoyed by a significant financial services and banking sector, healthcare and chemicals industry, and telecommunications and entertainment conglomerates.

According to the Global Financial Centres Index,^[20] the Mid-Atlantic region is home to the leading financial center in the world (New York) at #1, with Washington also present at #15.

Notable companies (over $100 billion market cap) headquartered in the region include:

Company	Headquarters	Market cap ($ billions)	Global rank
Chase	New York, New York	data-sort-value="vaarlington"	$447.91	13
Johnson and Johnson	New Brunswick, New Jersey	$430.06	15
Mastercard	Harrison, New York	data-sort-value="vamclean"	$364.48	22
Pfizer	New York, New York	$272.39	29
PepsiCo	Harrison, New York	data-sort-value="vamclean"	$232.01	40
Verizon Communications	New York, New York	data-sort-value="vatysons"	$225.96	45
Comcast-NBC	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	data-sort-value="vamclean"	$211.42	50
Merck	Kenilworth, New Jersey	data-sort-value="vafalls"	$192.90	60
Danaher	Washington, District of Columbia	data-sort-value="vamclean"	$190.74	61
Morgan Stanley	New York, New York	data-sort-value="vareston"	$169.08	73
American Express	New York, New York	data-sort-value="vafalls"	$147.98	89
Bristol Myers Squibb	New York, New York	$147.23	91
Citigroup	New York, New York	$127.27	105
Goldman Sachs	New York, New York	$115.43	118
BlackRock	New York, New York	$114.67	120
International Business Machines	North Castle, New York	$111.45	124
Estee Lauder	New York, New York	$108.67	130
Lockheed Martin	Bethesda, Maryland	$105.24	137

Bibliography

Bodle, Wayne, "The Mid-Atlantic and the American Revolution", Pennsylvania History 82 (Summer 2015), 282–99.
Heineman, Kenneth J., "The Only Things You Will Find in the Middle of the Road are Double Yellow Lines, Dead Frogs, and Electoral Leverage: Mid-Atlantic Political Culture and Influence across the Centuries", Pennsylvania History, 82 (Summer 2015), 300–13.
Landsman, Ned C. Crossroads of Empire: The Middle Colonies in British North America (2010)
Longhurst, James. Typically American': Trends in the History of Environmental Politics and Policy in the Mid-Atlantic Region". Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies 79.4 (2012): 409–427.
Magoc, Chris J., "In Search of a Useable—and Hopeful—Environmental Narrative in the Mid-Atlantic", Pennsylvania History, 82 (Summer 2015), 314–28.
Mancall, Peter C., Joshua L. Rosenbloom, and Thomas Weiss. "Exports from the Colonies and States of the Middle Atlantic Region 1720–1800". Research in Economic History 29 (2013): 257–305.
Marzec, Robert. The Mid-Atlantic Region: The Greenwood Encyclopedia of American Regional Cultures (2004)
Richter, Daniel K, "Mid-Atlantic Colonies, R.I.P.", Pennsylvania History, 82 (Summer 2015), 257–81.
Rosenbloom, Joshua L., and Thomas Weiss. "Economic growth in the Mid-Atlantic region: Conjectural estimates for 1720 to 1800". Explorations in Economic History 51 (2014): 41–59.

Notes and References

Web site: 2020 Census Apportionment Results. The United States Census Bureau.
Web site: GDP by State | U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) .
Web site: Mid-Atlantic Home : Mid–Atlantic Information Office : U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics . 2024-01-14 . www.bls.gov . en.
Web site: Schultz . Alex . 7 Beautiful Mid-Atlantic States . 2024-01-14 . Touropia . en-US.
Earl A. Greene et al. "Ground-Water Vulnerability to Nitrate Contamination in the Mid-Atlantic Region". USGS Fact Sheet FS 2004-3067. 2005. Retrieved April 25, 2013. Note: Although the locator map appears to exclude part of northwestern Pennsylvania, other more detailed maps in this article include all of the state. Often, when discussing climate, southern Connecticut is included with the Middle Atlantic.
EPA Region 3 (Mid-Atlantic) | Serving Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and 7 federally recognized tribes. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). (n.d.). https://www.epa.gov/aboutepa/epa-region-3-mid-atlantic
Mid-Atlantic Gateway (Washington, DC). Mid-Atlantic Gateway (Washington, DC) | MARAD. (n.d.). https://www.maritime.dot.gov/about-us/gateway-offices/mid-atlantic-gateway-office-washington-dc
Web site: U.S. Department of Defense - Office of Small Business Programs . Mid-Atlantic Regional Council . 2024-01-14 . business.defense.gov.
http://www.politifact.com/virginia/statements/2014/sep/22/bob-goodlatte/goodlatte-says-us-has-oldest-working-national-cons/ Goodlatte says U.S. has the oldest working national constitution
Web site: 2009 . United States . April 9, 2009 . Encyclopædia Britannica.
Web site: National University Rankings. February 21, 2022. U.S. News & World Report.
Web site: Best Global Universities Rankings. February 21, 2022. U.S. News & World Report.
Web site: U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges Ranking . January 14, 2024 . U.S. News & World Report.
Web site: Merriam-Webster . August 30, 2017 . Merriam-webster.com.
Web site: Census Regions and Divisions of the United States . United States Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration, United States Census Bureau, Geography Division . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20130921053705/http://www.census.gov/geo/maps-data/maps/pdfs/reference/us_regdiv.pdf . September 21, 2013 .
Labov, William, Sharon Ash and Charles Boberg, Atlas of North American English: Phonetics, Phonology and Sound Change, Mouton de Gruyter, 2005 Southern Regional Map
Web site: May 11, 2015 . Religious Landscape Study . November 2, 2017 . Religions.pewforum.org.
Web site: U.S. Census 2000 Report . November 2, 2017 . Census.gov.
Web site: The Demographic Statistical Atlas of the United States - Statistical Atlas . 2023-09-18 . statisticalatlas.com.
Web site: The Global Financial Centres Index 30. February 21, 2022.