The region is the base for the Northeast megalopolis, which includes many of the nation's largest metropolitan areas, including Boston, New York City, and Philadelphia. The megalopolis makes up 67% of the region's total population of 57,609,148. The gross domestic product of the region was $5.1 trillion as of 2022 and contains some of the most developed states based on the Human Development Index, with every state above the national average.<ref name=":5">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It is also the most densely populated region in the United States, with Template:Convert.<ref name="Zelinksy1" /><ref name="Hobbs">Template:Cite book</ref> The U.S. Census Bureau defines the Northeast United States as having a total area of Template:Convert, making it the smallest region of the United States by total area.
Template:Main
Anthropologists recognize the "Northeastern Woodlands" as one of the cultural regions that existed in the Western Hemisphere at the time of European colonists in the 15th and later centuries. Most did not settle in North America until the 17th century. The cultural area, known as the "Northeastern Woodlands", in addition to covering the entire Northeast U.S., also covered much of what is now Canada and other regions of what is now the eastern United States.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Among the many tribes inhabiting this area were those that made up the Iroquois nations and the numerous Algonquian peoples.<ref name="Native">Template:Cite book</ref> In the United States of the 21st century, 18 federally recognized tribes reside in the Northeast.<ref name="wildlife">Template:Cite web</ref> For the most part, the people of the Northeastern Woodlands, on whose lands European fishermen began camping to dry their codfish in the early 1600s, lived in villages, especially after being influenced by agricultural traditions of the Ohio and Mississippi valley societies.<ref>Nash, Gary B. Red, White and Black: The Peoples of Early North America Los Angeles 2015. Chapter 1, p. 8</ref>
All of the U.S. states making up the Northeastern region were among the original Thirteen Colonies, though Maine and Vermont were part of other colonies before the United States became independent in the American Revolution. The two cultural and geographic regions that form parts of the Northeastern region have distinct histories. The first European explorer known to have explored the Atlantic shoreline of the Northeast since the Norse was Giovanni da Verrazzano in 1524. His ship La Dauphine explored the coast from what is now known as Florida to New Brunswick.
Providence was founded by Roger Williams, who was banished by Massachusetts for his beliefs in freedom of religion, and it was the first colony to guarantee all citizens freedom of worship. Anne Hutchinson, who was also banished by Massachusetts, formed the town of Portsmouth. Providence, Portsmouth and two other towns (Newport and Warwick) consolidated to form the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.<ref name="Kelly 2020"/>
Henry Hudson explored the area of present-day New York in 1609 and claimed it for the Netherlands. His journey stimulated Dutch interest, and the area became known as New Netherland. In 1625, the city of New Amsterdam (the location of present-day New York City) was designated the capital of the province.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The Dutch New Netherland settlement along the Hudson River and, for a time, the New Sweden settlement along the Delaware River divided the English settlements in the north and the south. In 1664, Charles II of England formally annexed New Netherland and incorporated it into the English colonial empire.<ref name="Radford">Template:Cite web</ref> The territory became the colonies of New York and New Jersey.<ref name="Radford" /> New Jersey was originally split into East Jersey and West Jersey until the two were united as a royal colony in 1702.<ref name="Radford" />
Penn strongly desired access to the sea for the Province of Pennsylvania and leased what then came to be known as the "Lower Counties on the Delaware" from the Duke.<ref name="hod">Template:Cite book</ref> Penn established representative government and briefly combined his two possessions under one General Assembly in 1682.
By 1704, the province of Pennsylvania had grown so large that their representatives wanted to make decisions without the assent of the Lower Counties and the two groups of representatives began meeting on their own, one at Philadelphia, and the other at New Castle, Delaware. Penn and his heirs remained proprietors of both and always appointed the same person Governor for their province of Pennsylvania and their territory of the Lower Counties. The fact that Delaware and Pennsylvania shared the same governor was not unique. From 1703 to 1738, both New York and New Jersey shared a governor.<ref>Template:Citation.</ref> Massachusetts and New Hampshire also shared a governor for some time.<ref>Template:Citation.</ref>
The revolutionaries were pushed to the Delaware River before suddenly moving forward against the British in the Battles of Trenton and Princeton.<ref name="McCullough 2005"/>Template:Page needed A stalemate was reached in 1778, between the British and American Revolutionaries and continued until the end of the war in 1783.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The war would move to southern states and eventually conclude with the Battle of Yorktown in Virginia.<ref name="McCullough 2005"/>Template:Page needed
Following the revolution the Northeast would see small skirmishes like the Whiskey Rebellion in western parts of Pennsylvania.<ref name="Berkin 2017">Template:Cite book [[[:Template:GBurl]] Partial preview] a Google Books.</ref>Template:Page needed Many northeastern states would continue trading with the British and other European powers. Tensions between the United States and Europe (specifically Britain) would sour in the lead up to the War of 1812.
This caused certain trade merchants to meet in Hartford to propose seceding from the United States.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The War of 1812 would see less fighting in the Northeast and instead more fighting in western and southern areas. A failed invasion of Canada and the occupation of Maine would be some of the major conflicts during the war.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The war would end in 1815 and most of the Northeast has not seen any major conflict since then.
After the end of the War of 1812, industry boomed in the Northeast in the early and middle parts of the 19th century. With the construction of railroad and canals crossing the northeast and the rise of western territories and resources from the south, the Northeast experienced the development of new industries and a fast-growing population. Many of the coastal cities, including Boston, New York City, and Philadelphia, served as ocean trade ports for American goods.
By 1860, New York City, based on its present-day boundaries, was the first U.S. city to reach a population exceeding one million.<ref name="Jackson 1995">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>Template:Page needed Due to the settlement of the Midwest and Great Plains, agriculture would collapse in the Mid-Atlantic and New England, with many farms being abandoned by the end of the century, returning to rural forest.
Conflicts with the south over the spread of slavery would become a large factor in the start of the American Civil War, between the United States (western and Northeastern states) and the Confederacy (southeastern states). The admission of Maine as a free state in exchange for Missouri becoming a slave state as part of the Missouri Compromise in 1820 would settle the final boundaries of the Northeastern states.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
The Mason-Dixon line would be established as the border of slavery, following the border of Pennsylvania and Delaware/Maryland.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Abolitionist movements would start in the Northeast and Midwest and would become prominent towards the mid-19th century, these groups advocated the shrinking or banning of slavery in the United States. Some Northeastern states still had small amounts of slaves into the 1850s, though some would ban it during the decade.
The election of 1860 led to the start of the Civil War; southern states seceded from the United States in late-1860 and early-1861. States like Maryland and Delaware would remain in the union, even with slavery still legal. For the first two years, the eastern theater of the war would remain in Virginia and Maryland, but in 1863 the war would reach its northeastern most extent in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The Battle of Gettysburg is considered a turning point in the Civil War, seeing the end of the Confederate push northwards.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
While all Northeastern states would remain in the United States during the war, conflicts did arise, like the New York draft riots in 1863.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The war would end in 1865 with the United States taking back control of Southern states.
Following the Civil War, the Northeast would see a large economic boom and would become one of the most industrialized regions in the world. Many technological innovations would be made in the Northeast during this time. The Second Industrial Revolution would see the northeast grow massively, even more so than before the Civil War. Many cities in the Northeast would explode in population, with cities like Philadelphia and New York climbing over one million people, while other cities like Buffalo, Boston, and Pittsburgh would rise above half a million during this time.
New York City eventually grew to become one of the largest cities in the world by 1900. With the American involvement in both World Wars, the Northeast would become a large base of war production, with the Brooklyn Naval Yard producing many navy ships.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Many worker strikes would occur in the states, including the Homestead strike in 1892.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Many of these cities would see a peak population and industrial output in the aftermath of World War II in the 1950s.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Starting in the 1950s and continuing into the 21st century, a large industrial decline in the Northeast resulted in a depopulation of many Northeastern cities, many of which had not yet recovered from it into the 21st century. This led to the rise of programs of urban renewal and demolition of large parts of Northeastern cities during the mid and late 20th century.<ref name="Sugrue 2014">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Page needed There has also been a large population shift to the Sun Belt states starting in the 1960s.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
New York state lost its claim to being the most populated state after it was surpassed by California in the 1970s. Some Northeastern cities, including New York City, have recovered from its decline in the mid-20th century.<ref name="Jackson 1995"/>Template:Page needed Many new information and service industries have risen in the northeast, which has led to a boom in the 21st century in some cities in the Northeast like Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. Some other cities like Hartford, Syracuse, and Buffalo still are declining though in the 21st century.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Hurricane Sandy would impact much of the northeast in 2012, severely damaging much of the coast and causing flooding inland. The hurricane would directly impact New Jersey and caused large amounts of flooding in New York City.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Although the first settlers of New England were motivated by religion, since the 21st century, New England had become one of the least religious parts of the United States. In a 2009 Gallup survey, less than half of residents in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont reported religion as an important part of their daily life.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In a 2010 Gallup survey, less than 30% of residents in Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, and Massachusetts reported attending church weekly, giving them the lowest church attendance among U.S. states.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The region is often subdivided into New England, the six states east of New York state and the Mid-Atlantic states of New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and areas to the south. This definition has been essentially unchanged since 1880 and is widely used as a standard for data tabulation.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="widely">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
The U.S. Census Bureau has acknowledged the obvious limitations of this definition and the potential merits of a proposal created after the 1950 census,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> that would include changing regional boundaries to include Delaware, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. with the Mid-Atlantic states, but ultimately decided that "the new system did not win enough overall acceptance among data users to warrant adoption as an official new set of general-purpose State groupings. The previous development of many series of statistics, arranged and issued over long periods of time on the basis of the existing State groupings, favored the retention of the summary units of the current regions and divisions."<ref name="GARM">Template:Cite book</ref> The U.S. Census Bureau confirmed in 1994 that it would continue to "review the components of the regions and divisions to ensure that they continue to represent the most useful combinations of states and state equivalents."<ref name="GARM" />
Many organizations and reference works follow the Census Bureau's definition for the region.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In the history of the United States, the Mason–Dixon line between Pennsylvania (the North) and Maryland (the South) traditionally divided the regions,<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> but in modern times, various entities define the Northeastern United States in somewhat different ways.
The narrowest definitions include only the states of New England.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Other more restrictive definitions include New England and New York as part of the Northeast United States, but exclude Pennsylvania and New Jersey.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
States beyond the Census Bureau definition are included in Northeast Region by various other entities:
The National Park Service includes in their Northeast Region: Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia, though small parts are also in the National Capital Region.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Topography
While most of the Northeastern United States lie in the physiographic region of the Appalachian Highlands, some are also part of the Atlantic coastal plain, which extends south to the southern tip of Florida. The coastal plain areas include Cape Cod in Massachusetts, Long Island in New York, and most of New Jersey, and are generally low and flat with sandy soil and long tidal marsh waterways.<ref name="Hobbs" /> The highlands, including the Piedmont and the Appalachian Mountains, are heavily forested, ranging from rolling hills to summits greater than Template:Convert, and pocked with many lakes.<ref name=Hobbs/> The highest peak in the Northeast is Mount Washington in New Hampshire at Template:Convert.<ref>Template:Cite ngs</ref>
Land use
Template:As of, forest-use covered approximately 60% of the Northeastern states, including Delaware, Maryland, and Washington, D.C., about twice the national average. About 11% was cropland and another 4% grassland pasture or range. There is also more urbanized land in the Northeast (12%) than any other region in the U.S.<ref name=USDA/>
The climate of the Northeastern United States varies from northernmost state of Maine to its southernmost state in Maryland. The region's climate is influenced by its positional western to eastern flow of weather in the lower middle latitudes in the United States. In summer the subtropical high (Bermuda High) moves toward the East Coast, this pumps warm and sultry air toward the Northeast (less so in the far northern areas of northern New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine). Summers are normally warm in northern areas to hot in southern areas. Frequent (but brief) thundershowers are common on hot summer days from Connecticut south to Maryland.
In winter, the subtropical high retreats southeastward, and the polar jet stream moves south bringing colder air masses from up in Canada and more frequent storm systems to the region. Winter often brings both rain and snow as well as surges of both warm and cold air. In the southern part of the Northeast from coastal Rhode Island southwest to eastern Maryland, the Appalachians partially protect these locations from the extreme cold coming from the west and the interior of North America.<ref name="Climate">Template:Cite web</ref>
In the latter region the hardiness zone ranges from 7a to 8a. Annual mean temperatures range from the low-to-mid 50s F from Maryland to southern Connecticut, to the 40s F in most of New York State, New England, and northern Pennsylvania.<ref name="Climate"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
As of the 2020 U.S. census, the population of the region was 57,609,148, representing 17.38% of the nation's total population.<ref name="auto"/> With an average of 345.5 people per square mile, the Northeast is 2.5 times as densely populated as the second-most dense region, the South. Since the last century, the U.S. population has been shifting away from the Northeast and Midwest toward the South and West.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
The region's racial composition as of 2020 was 64.42% white, 11.51% African American, 0.51% Native American, 7.25% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 8.17% from other races, and 8.10% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 15.27% of the population.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> There were 22,418,883 households and 14,189,719 families in 2021. Of the 22,418,883 households, 27.7% included children under the age of 18.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2021, the region's the population's age distribution was 20.5% under age 18, 57.36% from 18 to 62, and 22.1% who were 62 years of age or older. The median age was 40.5 years. For every 100 females, there were 96.4 males. For every 100 women ages 18 and over, there were 94.3 men.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The median income for a household in the region in 2021 was $77,142, and the median income for a family was $97,347. About 11.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 16.0% of those under age 18 and 10.4% of those age 65 or over.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The two U.S. Census Bureau divisions in the Northeast, New England and the Mid-Atlantic, rank second and first respectively among the 9 divisions in population density according to the 2013 population estimate. The South Atlantic region (233.1) was very close behind New England (233.2). Due to the faster growth of the South Atlantic region, it will take over the #2 division rank in population density in the next estimate, dropping New England to 3rd position. New England is projected to retain the number 3 rank for many, many years, as the only other lower-ranked division with even half the population density of New England is the East North Central division (192.1) and this region's population is projected to grow slowly.Template:Efn<ref name="census.gov"/>
New York City, New York is the most populated city in both the Northeast and the United States. Its population was 8,804,190 in 2020. Its metro area has a population of 20,140,470.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is the second-most populated in the Northeast and sixth-most populous in the nation. Its population was 1,603,797 in 2020. Its metro area population was 6,228,601.
Boston, Massachusetts is the third-most populous city in the Northeast and 25th-most populous in the nation. Its population was 675,647 in 2020. Its metro area had a population of 4,941,632.
Newark, New Jersey is the fourth-most populous city in the Northeast and 64th-most populous in the U.S. Its population was 311,549 in 2020. Its metro area is combined with the New York area.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is the fifth most populous city in the Northeast and 68th-most populous in the nation. Pittsburgh is at the western frontier of the Northeast, a short drive from the Ohio border, and is widely regarded as the transition point between the Northeast and Midwest. Its population was 302,971 in 2020. Its metro area has a population of 2,370,930.
Jersey City, New Jersey is the sixth most populous-largest city in the Northeast and 70th-most populous in the nation. It had a population of 292,449 in 2020. It sits directly across the Hudson River from New York City.
Buffalo, New York is the seventh most populous city in the Northeast and 82nd-most populous in the U.S. Its population was 278,349 in 2020. Its metro area had a population of 1,166,902.
Yonkers, New York is the eighth most populous city in the Northeast and 115th-most populous city in the U.S. It had a population of 211,569 in 2020. It borders the Bronx, a borough of New York City to its south.
Rochester, New York is the ninth most populous city in the Northeast and the 116th-most populous city in the United States. It had a population of 211,328 in 2020. The Rochester metro has a population of 1,090,135.
Worcester, Massachusetts is the tenth most populous city in the Northeast and the 114th-most populous city in the United States. It had a population of 206,518 in the 2020 census. It is an edge city of Greater Boston and its metro is combined with it.
Economy
Template:Expand sectionTemplate:As of, the Northeast U.S. accounts for approximately 23% of the nation's gross domestic product.<ref name=":5" /> Due to its vast population and diverse landscapes, the Northeast has a large and robust economy, ranging from financial services in Manhattan, to agriculture in Central Pennsylvania.
Rural regions and states, including most of Upstate New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine, rely more on agriculture, logging, mining, and tourism to help boost their local and statewide economies. Many national and state parks in the region generate lots of tourism, especially during fall months. The logging industry is especially prominent in Maine, making up a large part of Northern Maine's economy.
Many Northeastern states have very large economies and are highly developed. As of 2022, the per capita gross domestic products for these states are:
30th Street Station in Philadelphia. Served by all SEPTA Regional Lines, Amtrak, NJ Transit's Atlantic City Line, it is the third-busiest Amtrak station and 11th-busiest train station in North America with over four million passengers in 2019.
Grand Central Terminal in New York City is served by Metro North and some Long Island Rail trains (beginning in January 2023). Grand Central Terminal had over 67 million annual passengers in 2017 and is the second-busiest train station in the nation and third-busiest in North America.
South Station in Boston is served by southern MBTA commuter lines and Amtrak, and was the seventh-busiest train station in North America with nearly 29 million passengers as of 2017.
North Station in Boston is served by northern MBTA commuter lines and the Downeaster on Amtrak. It had six million MBTA users in 2012 and 152,000 Amtrak passengers in 2021.
Delaware Memorial Bridge (I-295, NJ Turnpike) - Crosses the Delaware River between Delaware and New Jersey, the southern most fixed crossing on the river. Eastbound span opened in 1951, westbound span opened in 1968.
PATH Hudson Tubes - Carries the PATH metro trains underneath the Hudson River to connect Newark, Jersey City, and Hoboken to Lower and Midtown Manhattan. The tubes opened up in 1908/1909.
Holland Tunnel (I-78) - Crosses underneath the Hudson River, connects road traffic from Jersey City and Newark to Lower Manhattan. Opened in 1927.
Queens-Midtown Tunnel (I-495) - Crosses underneath the East River, connecting the Long Island Expressway to Manhattan. Opened in 1940.
Hell Gate Bridge (Amtrak) - Crosses the East River and Bronx Kill, provides a rail connection from Pennsylvania Station to the Bronx and Connecticut. Opened in 1917.
George Washington Bridge (I-95) - Crosses the Hudson River, connecting New York and New England to New Jersey and cross-country I-80. One of the busiest crossings in the United States. Double Decked. Opened in 1931.
Throgs Neck Bridge (I-295) Crosses the East River, connecting the Bronx and New England to the Queens and Long Island, northern most crossing of the East River. (no fixed crossings are in Long Island Sound) Opened in 1961.
Tappan Zee Bridge (I-87, I-287) - Crosses the Hudson River, carrying NY Thruway and suburban traffic from Rockland and Westchester counties. Alternative to GW Bridge. Current span opened in 2017, former span opened in 1955.
Newburgh-Beacon Bridge (I-84) - Crosses the Hudson River, carrying traffic from Pennsylvania and southeastern New York across the river to New England. Opened in 1963.
Q Bridge (I-95) - Crosses the Quinnipiac River, carrying New Haven traffic along with traffic heading to New England or New York. Current span opened in 2012, original span opened in 1958.
Baldwin Bridge (I-95) - Crosses the Connecticut River, carrying cross-state traffic and connecting Old Saybrook to New London. Opened in 1948.
Before European settlement, most of the Northeast was loosely connected by Native American trails, some of which would be incorporated into early-European settlement roads and turnpikes. One major early road was the Boston Post Road, connecting New York City and Boston along the Connecticut and Rhode Island coasts.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Later these roads would be included in the King's Highway, spanning most of the east coast. Smaller turnpikes would also connect cities across the northeast. These roads would prove essential to moving goods across the English colonies in the 18th century and would later play a large part in the American Revolution.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The region saw a boom in canal-building in the early-19th century, with a major canal being the Erie Canal, opened in 1825, connecting the Great Lakes to the Hudson River and Atlantic Ocean through Western New York.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The first railroads would be built in the late-1820s and would explode in mileage in the mid to late 19th century.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Places like Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Newark, and Pittsburgh would become large water and rail hubs during the Industrial Revolution and would see tremendous booms in population and use.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Many large rivers in the northeast like the Hudson and Delaware would be slowly crossed with bridges starting in the 1800s, with the first fixed crossing of the Hudson River south of Albany being the Poughkeepsie Railroad Bridge, opened in 1889.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Delair Bridge, which would connect Philadelphia with New Jersey was opened six years later in 1896.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The first crossing of the Hudson River into New York City would be the series of Hudson River PATH tunnels, being opened in 1908 and 1909.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The first major vehicle tunnel would be the Holland Tunnel, opened up in 1927.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
The start of highway construction would be the Bronx River Parkway and Long Island Motor Parkway, both of which started construction in the early-1900s.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The rise of Robert Moses in New York would see the construction of many major road bridges and highways crossing the city and metro area. East River Drive (eventually renamed FDR Drive), was built along the corresponding river in Manhattan.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The mid-20th century would see the rise of urban and suburban freeways and the decline of passenger and freight rail, with many lesser used tracks being abandoned or torn up during this time.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> It would also see the original Pennsylvania Station demolished in Midtown Manhattan during the mid-1960s.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The construction of the Cross-Bronx Expressway in New York, Central Artery in Boston, and the Vine Street Expressway in Philadelphia tore up many ethnic and minority neighborhoods in the name of urban renewal.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=":2">Template:Cite book</ref> Many other highways were proposed during this era, like the Lower Manhattan Expressway and the Inner Belt in Boston, which were not built due to fierce highway revolts and rising costs.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> After the major highway revolts and rise of environmental concerns, new highway and interstate projects were mostly cancelled or shortened in the Northeast by the 1990s.
Despite the lack of new major road projects in the Northeast, the region has still continued to grow in population, resulting in the rise of alternative forms of transport like HOV lanes or commuter rails. This has led to the Northeast having one of the highest transit usage percentages in North America, with the Long Island Railroad being the most used commuter rail in the continent.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> One exception was the Big Dig, a major road project that would tear down the former elevated Central Artery (I-93) and instead tunnel it (and widen). It would also construct a new Charles River bridge and the Ted Williams Tunnel (I-90). This would end up becoming one of the costliest construction projects in the world, costing $21 billion adjusted to 2020 inflation.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The former highway's path would become the Rose Kennedy Greenway, a large public park. The Sheridan Expressway (former I-895) was also rebuilt into a boulevard in the late-2010s.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Rochester, New York has torn down the Inner Loop due to low traffic and to reunify neighborhoods in downtown and to create developable space.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Culture
Template:Expand section
One geographer, Wilbur Zelinsky, asserts that the Northeast region lacks a unified cultural identity,<ref name="Zelinksy1">Template:Cite journal</ref> but has served as a "culture hearth" for the rest of the nation.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Several much smaller geographical regions within the Northeast have distinct cultural identities.<ref name="Zelinksy1" />
According to a 2009 Gallup poll, the Northeastern states differ from most of the rest of the U.S. in religious affiliation, generally reflecting the descendants of immigration patterns of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with many Catholics arriving from Ireland, Italy, French Canada - Quebec, Portugal and east-central Europe. Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York and New Jersey are the only states in the nation where Catholics outnumber Protestants and other Christian denominations. More than 20% of respondents in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont declared no religious identity.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Compared to other U.S. regions, the Northeast, along with the Pacific Northwest, has had the lowest regular religious service attendance and the fewest people for whom religion is an important part of their daily lives as of 2015.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
The region has also been noted for the prevalence of the traditionally Northeastern sports of ice hockey and lacrosse.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Politics
Template:Main
The Northeastern United States tended to vote Republican in federal elections through the first half of the 20th century, but the region has since the 1990s shifted to become the most Democratic region in the nation, along with the West Coast.<ref name=Shelley/> Results from a 2008 Gallup poll indicated that eight of the top ten Democratic states were located in the region, with every Northeastern state having a Democratic Party affiliation advantage of at least ten points.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The following table demonstrates Democratic support in the Northeast as compared to the remainder of the nation.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Year
% President vote
% Senate seats
% House seats
Northeast
Remainder
Northeast
Remainder
Northeast
Remainder
2000
57.6
47.5
60.0
46.3
59.6
45.7
2002
60.0
45.0
58.3
44.7
2004
57.1
47.3
60.0
40.0
59.5
43.0
2006
75.0
45.0
73.8
48.3
2008
60.7
52.0
80.0
52.5
81.0
52.9
2010
75.0
47.5
67.9
38.5
The following table of United States presidential election results since 1920 illustrates that over the past nine presidential elections, only three Northeastern states supported a Republican candidate. New Hampshire voted for George W. Bush in 2000;<ref name="2000 EC Results">Template:Cite web</ref> Pennsylvania and Maine's 2nd congressional district voted for Donald Trump in 2016,<ref name="2016 EC Results">Template:Cite web</ref> Maine's 2nd district voted for Trump again in 2020,<ref name="2020 EC Results">Template:Cite web</ref> and 2024 saw Trump take back Pennsylvania and again hold on to Maine's 2nd district. 2004 is so far the only election in U.S. history in which the winner did not win any northeastern state.<ref name="2004 EC Results">Template:Cite web</ref> Bolded entries indicate that party's candidate also won the general election.
The following table shows the breakdown of party affiliation of governors, attorneys general, state legislative houses and U.S. congressional delegation for the Northeastern states as of October 1, 2025. (Demographics reflect registration-by-party figures from that state's registered voter statistics.)
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