What is Southeastern United States?

The US Southeast is the eastern portion of the Southern United States, but the Census Bureau does not provide a standard definition of a "Southeast" region of the United States, and organizations that need to subdivide the US are free to define a "Southeast" region to fit their needs. [1] However, Georgia is almost always included, Texas is never included, and inclusion of other states varies.

Atlanta is the central metropolis of the Southeast [2] [3] , and the Southeast roughly corresponds to an area with Atlanta centrally located, with Hartsfield as the region's airline hub. Much of Virginia is associated with the Washington or Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News metropolitan areas. A portion of the latter extends into North Carolina.

The region boasts a number of prominent universities, with several large research universities of longstanding significance (such as University of Virginia, UNC Chapel Hill, Furman University, University of Georgia, Emory University, Duke University, Medical College of Georgia, Medical University of South Carolina, Clemson University, University of South Carolina and Georgia Institute of Technology) exerting an influence beyond the region. Research Triangle Park, in the Raleigh-Durham urban area of North Carolina has emerged (over a nearly 50-year existence) as a major hub of technology, governmental and biotechnological research and development. The Cummings Research Park in the Huntsville, Alabama area is another of the largest research complexes in the nation.

Examples

Defining organization	AL	FL	GA	SC	NC	VA/DC	TN	MS	KY	AR	LA
A Look At Atlanta p. 6	x	x	x	x	x		x	x
Southeastern Conference	x	x	x	x			x	x	x	x	x
Southeast Conference, United Church of Christ	part	part	x	x			part	x
Southeast Conservative Baptist	x	x		x					x
Southeast Division (NBA)		x	x		x	x
Southeast Division (NHL)		x	x	x	x	x
Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor	x	x	x	x	x	x
I-85 Corridor	x		x	x	x	x					|BellSouth||x||x||x||x||x|| ||x||x||x|| ||x||

Largest metropolitan areas

Beyond Megalopolis by Virginia Tech's Metropolitan Institute, an attempt to update Jean Gottmann's work with current trends, defines two "megapolitan areas" contained within the Southeast, out of a total of ten such areas in the United States:

• "Piedmont" centered on Atlanta and extending from North Carolina to Alabama
• "Peninsula" covering South Florida and Central Florida

Two others tie some areas on the margins of the Southeast to urban centers in other regions:

• "Gulf Coast" extending as far east as the western tip of Florida
• "Northeast" including much of eastern Virginia

Rank	Metropolitan Area	Population	State(s)
1	Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach	5,422,200	Florida
2	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria	5,290,400	Virginia / District of Columbia / Maryland / West Virginia
3	Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta	5,249,121	Georgia
4	Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater	2,589,637	Florida
5	Orlando-Kissimmee	1,997,437	Florida
6	Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News	1,700,000	Virginia / North Carolina
7	Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord	1,521,278	North Carolina / South Carolina
8	Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro	1,498,836	Tennessee
9	Raleigh-Durham	1,467,434	North Carolina
10	Jacksonville	1,348,381	Florida
11	Richmond	1,300,000	Virginia
12	Memphis	1,260,905	Tennessee/Mississippi/Arkansas
13	Louisville-Jefferson County	1,245,920	Kentucky
14	Birmingham-Hoover	1,100,019	Alabama

References

•  • [ e] Geographic regions of the United States

Northeast • New England - Mid-Atlantic • East Coast - Atlantic Northeast Midwest • E North Central - W North Central • Upper Midwest • Great Lakes - Great Plains South • Upland South - Deep South - Gulf Coast • South Atlantic - Southeast - South Central West • Pacific/West Coast - Mountain • Northwest - Southwest • Pacific Northwest - Great Basin Other designations: North - East - Central • Coastal - International Border