I only just learned this! I had always assumed that it referred to the North Country (i.e. Syracuse/Albany and "up"). The other day my colleague was pointing out Elmira to someone on a map, and I said, "I thought you were from upstate New York?" and he had to explain that upstate refers to pretty much the entire state. Even the west. Oops!
Oh, there are plenty of native new Yorkers, some of whom I'm know, who insist only the north country is "upstate". Maybe because it's upstate from... All other places in NY? I have no idea. But they think central NY, Hudson River valley, capital district and Western NY are all separate from upstate NY. Like, "I'm not from upstate NY, I'm from WESTERN NY." You're from both, dummy!
It is all up from NYC, though!
I moved from the NYC area to Binghamton earlier this year... Someone local heard me refer to Binghamton as "upstate" and corrected me to say "the southern tier."
I've met plenty of people in NYC who consider Westchester "upstate."
Moving to Rhode Island has been like nothing else, though. People here think driving 15 mins is a hardship. And the fact that I commute over an hour to Boston is like, incomprehensible.
My sister and BIL live in MA just across the border from Woonsocket, and my sister commutes into Providence. DW and I lived with them for a while way back. I have heard so many variations of "oh, my whole family lives in Rhode Island, except my (relative) moved away." "Oh, where does he live?" "<insert various places in southern Massachusetts>" My family jokes that there are laws against people leaving Rhode Island. Even at the shopping complex near my sister's house, which is literally 5 minutes from the state line, you almost never seen Rhode Island license plates in the parking lot.
I grew up in Minnesota and went to college in upstate NY. In college I once got into a huge arguement with someone who absolutely thought I was lying when I said that Minnesota borders Canada.
I grew up in Minnesota and went to college in upstate NY. In college I once got into a huge arguement with someone who absolutely thought I was lying when I said that Minnesota borders Canada.
This blows my mind. The appropriate response would be something like “I’m not very familiar with Minnesota and never realized it borders Canada!” Not “I know more about your home state than you do and you are clearly lying to me.”
I have met several people from upstate NY in the last few months, and I had no idea that that meant anywhere in NY other than NYC. This is why I stick around this message board lol. I'm always learning!
I feel like I always have to explain that Iowa isn't ONLY rural when I tell people I just moved from there. Baltimore is a big change, but not as big of a change moving from a town with a huge university as it would be moving from the small farming towns that people assume. I think this is a relatively fair question, though, since the majority of Iowa IS rural.
I have met several people from upstate NY in the last few months, and I had no idea that that meant anywhere in NY other than NYC. This is why I stick around this message board lol. I'm always learning!
I feel like I always have to explain that Iowa isn't ONLY rural when I tell people I just moved from there. Baltimore is a big change, but not as big of a change moving from a town with a huge university as it would be moving from the small farming towns that people assume. I think this is a relatively fair question, though, since the majority of Iowa IS rural.
I used to live about as far up in upstate in NY as you can go and still be in the US.
There is roughly 300 miles between NYC and the other end of NY in the north to south direction, so upstate is a pretty huge chunk of area.
I have met several people from upstate NY in the last few months, and I had no idea that that meant anywhere in NY other than NYC. This is why I stick around this message board lol. I'm always learning!
I feel like I always have to explain that Iowa isn't ONLY rural when I tell people I just moved from there. Baltimore is a big change, but not as big of a change moving from a town with a huge university as it would be moving from the small farming towns that people assume. I think this is a relatively fair question, though, since the majority of Iowa IS rural.
I used to live about as far up in upstate in NY as you can go and still be in the US.
There is roughly 300 miles between NYC and the other end of NY in the north to south direction, so upstate is a pretty huge chunk of area.
Oh, I meant that I didn't realize it meant EVERYWHERE other than NYC. Lol. I assumed it meant literally the upper part of NY. I knew it did not mean NYC.
I have met several people from upstate NY in the last few months, and I had no idea that that meant anywhere in NY other than NYC. This is why I stick around this message board lol. I'm always learning!
I feel like I always have to explain that Iowa isn't ONLY rural when I tell people I just moved from there. Baltimore is a big change, but not as big of a change moving from a town with a huge university as it would be moving from the small farming towns that people assume. I think this is a relatively fair question, though, since the majority of Iowa IS rural.
I used to live about as far up in upstate in NY as you can go and still be in the US.
There is roughly 300 miles between NYC and the other end of NY in the north to south direction, so upstate is a pretty huge chunk of area.
My father grew up in Fine, NY, in the middle of nowhere, between Lake Placid and the Canadian border.
He always described himself as being from "upstate New York," so I always thought his area in the far north part of the state, was the "up" state because until I was an adult, I hadn't met anyone else from "upstate" New York.
I have met several people from upstate NY in the last few months, and I had no idea that that meant anywhere in NY other than NYC. This is why I stick around this message board lol. I'm always learning!
I feel like I always have to explain that Iowa isn't ONLY rural when I tell people I just moved from there. Baltimore is a big change, but not as big of a change moving from a town with a huge university as it would be moving from the small farming towns that people assume. I think this is a relatively fair question, though, since the majority of Iowa IS rural.
One of my college friends was originally from Des Moines. People from rural MN made snide comments to her about being from Iowa and moving to the big city. Because all of Iowa is towns of 50 people, apparently?
I used to live about as far up in upstate in NY as you can go and still be in the US.
There is roughly 300 miles between NYC and the other end of NY in the north to south direction, so upstate is a pretty huge chunk of area.
My father grew up in Fine, NY, in the middle of nowhere, between Lake Placid and the Canadian border.
He always described himself as being from "upstate New York," so I always thought his area in the far north part of the state, was the "up" state because until I was an adult, I hadn't met anyone else from "upstate" New York.
There is about 70 miles between Lake Placid and the Canadian border. There are several towns, including a couple of SUNY campuses (Plattsburgh and Potsdam) within that area.
My father grew up in Fine, NY, in the middle of nowhere, between Lake Placid and the Canadian border.
He always described himself as being from "upstate New York," so I always thought his area in the far north part of the state, was the "up" state because until I was an adult, I hadn't met anyone else from "upstate" New York.
There is about 70 miles between Lake Placid and the Canadian border. There are several towns, including a couple of SUNY campuses (Plattsburgh and Potsdam) within that area.
I used to live about as far up in upstate in NY as you can go and still be in the US.
There is roughly 300 miles between NYC and the other end of NY in the north to south direction, so upstate is a pretty huge chunk of area.
Oh, I meant that I didn't realize it meant EVERYWHERE other than NYC. Lol. I assumed it meant literally the upper part of NY. I knew it did not mean NYC.
My post made no sense!
Well everything north of the Bronx. So upstate is everything but the city and long island. Which is rarely, but sometimes, called downstate.