Southern United States

The Southern United States is one of the four main areas of the United States as set by the U.S. Census Bureau. It lies between the Atlantic Ocean and the Western United States, with the Midwestern and Northeastern United States to its north and the Gulf of Mexico and Mexico to its south.

Historically, the South has been shaped by important events and traditions. It includes many different areas like the Southeast, South Central, Upper South, and Deep South. Over time, the South has created its own special culture, with unique musical styles, cuisines, and ways of life that make it different from other parts of the country.

Today, the South is one of the fastest-growing parts of the United States. It is known for its rich history, diverse population, and strong sense of community. Cities like Houston are some of the biggest and most lively in the country.

Geography

The South is a region with many different climates, from cool to very warm. It is often known for its hot, sticky summers and mild winters. Because of its warm weather, many plants grow well here. You can find swamps, forests, and special plants like magnolias and palms. Animals such as alligators, black bears, and many types of birds also live in the South.

People have different ideas about which states are part of the South. The U.S. Census Bureau groups sixteen states and Washington, D.C., together as the South. These include states like Florida, Georgia, and Texas. Some people also think of cultural areas, which can include states such as Alabama and Mississippi. The South has many subregions with their own special features, like the Deep South and the Gulf Coast.

Historically, the South was thought of as the states below certain lines and rivers, but today its borders are less clear because of the many different cultures and areas within it. Sometimes places like Puerto Rico are also thought of as part of the South.

History

Native American culture

The first evidence of people living in the southern United States dates back to around 9500 BC. These early people, known as Paleo-Indians, were hunters and gatherers who traveled in groups. Over time, different cultures developed, including the Mississippian culture, which thrived from about 800 AD to 1500 AD. This culture built large earth mounds for homes and ceremonies. Many Native American groups, such as the Cherokee and Seminole, still live in the South today.

European colonization

When Europeans arrived, they brought diseases that many Native Americans had never encountered, causing many deaths. They also took land from the Native people. The English were the main group to settle in the South, establishing colonies along the coast and later moving inland. Other groups, like the Spanish and French, also set up settlements in places such as Florida and Louisiana.

Instituting slavery

Before the United States became independent, slavery was allowed in all of the original colonies. The Southern colonies had many more enslaved people than other regions. This was because their economy relied heavily on farming crops like tobacco and later cotton, which required a lot of labor.

American Revolution

During the American Revolution, many people in the Southern colonies supported the fight for independence. Leaders like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson came from the South. The British tried to control the South, thinking many people there supported them, but they were not successful. The war ended with the British surrendering at Yorktown, Virginia, in 1781.

Antebellum years

After the invention of the cotton gin, growing cotton became very profitable in the South. This led to an increase in the use of enslaved people on large farms called plantations. Many Native Americans were forced to move west to make way for new farms.

Civil War

Tensions over slavery and states' rights eventually led to the Civil War in 1861. The Southern states formed the Confederate States of America but were defeated by the Union forces led by Abraham Lincoln. The war caused great damage to the South and led to the end of slavery.

Reconstruction and Jim Crow era

After the Civil War, the South faced many challenges as it tried to rebuild. New laws were passed to give freed slaves the right to vote and become citizens. However, many white people resisted these changes. Groups formed to prevent African Americans from voting and exercising their rights. Over time, new laws were created to separate people by race and limit the rights of African Americans.

1880s through 1930s

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the South began to change with the growth of cities and new industries. However, many people, especially African Americans, faced difficult conditions and discrimination. Many moved north looking for better opportunities. The Great Depression in the 1930s brought economic hardship to the region.

1940s through late 20th century

World War II brought major changes to the South, with new factories and military bases being built. This helped the economy grow, and many people moved to cities for jobs. The region continued to develop through the latter half of the 20th century, with industries like technology and aviation becoming important.

21st century

In recent years, the South has become a strong economic region with many large companies and growing cities. However, some areas still face challenges such as poverty and lower income levels compared to other parts of the country.

Modern economy

In the late 20th century, the South changed a lot. It grew in many areas like services, making things, new technology, and money matters. Texas grew very fast, especially with energy and places to visit like the Alamo Mission in San Antonio. Places in Florida and along the Gulf Coast also became more popular to visit.

Many big car factories opened in the South, including ones for Mercedes-Benz in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Hyundai in Montgomery, Alabama, and Toyota in several states. The South is also home to two very big research parks: Research Triangle Park in North Carolina and the Cummings Research Park in Huntsville, Alabama.

The Texas Medical Center in Houston is known around the world for helping people with health problems, especially heart disease and cancer. Many big banking companies are based in the South, like Bank of America and Truist Financial in Charlotte. Atlanta has many important companies too, such as The Coca-Cola Company, Delta Air Lines, and The Home Depot, along with several TV networks.

Education

In the past, public schools in the Southern United States sometimes did not rank very high in national surveys. But newer data from 2009 shows that high school education in the South is about the same as the rest of the country, with 72% of students finishing high school, compared to 73% nationwide.

The South is home to many big and famous colleges and universities. Some well-known public schools include the University of Virginia, University of Texas at Austin, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Georgia Tech, among others. There are also many well-known private schools, such as Duke University, Rice University, and Vanderbilt University.

Culture

Main article: Culture of the Southern United States

See also: White Southerners and Black Southerners

The Southern United States has a special way of speaking and sounds that are unique to the area. The culture there began when people from many parts of England, like the West Midlands, southwest England, and southeast England, settled there in the 1600s and early 1700s. For example, the city of Birmingham, Alabama was named after Birmingham, England. Other groups came from Northern England, Scots lowlanders, and Ulster-Scots, who later were called the Scotch-Irish and settled in places like Appalachia. Many African people were brought to the South as slaves, and their descendants make up a large part of the population today. This mix of cultures has created a rich blend of religion, food, art, and music, including spiritual, blues, jazz, R&B, soul music, country music, zydeco, bluegrass, and rock and roll.

The South has traditionally had lower housing costs and incomes compared to other parts of the United States. People in the South often stay close to their families, which has helped create a strong sense of community. Many Southerners see themselves as part of a special group, though not everyone agrees with this idea. In past times, many Southerners said they were of English ancestry, followed by Irish and African ancestry.

The South has been shaped by its history, including the early settlers from England and the influence of Native American culture. The area also has strong religious traditions, with many people belonging to Christian groups such as Baptists and Methodists. These traditions have been important in shaping the culture of the South.

Ethnicity

See also: Black Southerners, White Southerners, and Chinese Americans in the Mississippi Delta

The South has the largest African American population among all regions in the United States. It has mostly stayed a place where many African Americans and white Americans live, unlike other parts of the country that have more Hispanic and Asian people moving in. But, in some areas like South Florida and South Texas, the number of Hispanic people is growing fast.

Long ago, Native American tribes such as the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chicasaw, and Seminole lived in most of the South. Later, many of them were moved to Oklahoma during events known as the Trail of Tears and the Seminole wars.

Sports

Football

American football is very popular in most parts of the Southern United States.

The area has many famous and historic college football teams, especially in the Southeastern Conference (called the "SEC"), Atlantic Coast Conference (called the "ACC"), and the Big 12 Conference. The SEC, which has mostly teams from Southern states, is thought to be the best league in college football today. It includes the Alabama Crimson Tide, the team with the most national titles in the modern era of the sport. The sport is also very popular at the high school level, especially in rural areas, where games bring the whole community together.

The first professional football team in the South was the Washington Redskins, now called the Washington Commanders. They still have many fans in most of Virginia and parts of Maryland. Later, the National Football League (NFL) and American Football League (AFL) added many teams in the Southern U.S. during the 1960s, such as the Atlanta Falcons, New Orleans Saints, Houston Oilers, Miami Dolphins, and the Dallas Cowboys. In later years, the NFL added more teams in the South, like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 1970s, and the Carolina Panthers, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Baltimore Ravens in the 1990s. The Houston Oilers moved to Nashville and became the Tennessee Titans, and were replaced by the Houston Texans.

Baseball

Baseball has been played in the Southern United States since the mid-1800s. It used to be more popular than American football until the 1980s and still draws the most fans each year for sports in the South. The first mention of a baseball team in Houston was on April 11, 1861. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, games were common, especially after professional leagues like the Texas League, the Dixie League, and the Southern League started.

The Louisville Colonels were part of the early National League and American Association, but they stopped playing in 1899. The first Southern Major League Baseball team after that was the Houston Colt .45s (now the Houston Astros) in 1962. Later, the Atlanta Braves joined in 1966, followed by the Texas Rangers in 1972, and the Miami Marlins and Tampa Bay Rays in the 1990s.

College baseball is very popular in the South, with teams like Florida State, Arkansas, LSU, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Florida and Texas often leading in NCAA attendance. Teams from Virginia, Vanderbilt, LSU, South Carolina, Florida Coastal Carolina and Tennessee have won recent College World Series titles.

Here is a list of each MLB team in the Southern U.S. and their fan attendance for 2019:

Auto racing

The Southern states are known for stock car racing and its top competition, NASCAR, which is based in Charlotte and Daytona Beach. The sport started in the South in the early 1900s, with races first held on the wide, flat sands of Daytona Beach before the Daytona International Speedway was built. Even though NASCAR races happen all over the United States, most still take place at Southern tracks.

Basketball

Basketball is very popular in the Southern United States, both for fun and as a sport to watch, especially in Kentucky and North Carolina. Both states have famous college basketball teams, like the Kentucky Wildcats, Louisville Cardinals, Duke Blue Devils and North Carolina Tar Heels. Other Southern teams, such as the Florida Gators and Virginia Cavaliers, have won national titles.

NBA teams in the South include the San Antonio Spurs, Houston Rockets, Oklahoma City Thunder, Dallas Mavericks, Washington Wizards, Charlotte Hornets, Atlanta Hawks, Orlando Magic, Memphis Grizzlies, New Orleans Pelicans, and Miami Heat. The Spurs and Heat have been very successful, winning eight championships together between 1999 and 2014.

Golf

Golf is a popular sport in most of the South, helped by the warm climate that allows for many professional tournaments and golf resorts, especially in Florida. The area is home to The Masters, held at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia, which is one of the most important tournaments in the sport. Another big tournament is held at Hilton Head Island, in South Carolina, which also has many high-quality golf courses.

Soccer

In recent years, association football, called "soccer" in the United States, has become more popular at youth and college levels across the region. The sport has long been played at the college level in states along the Atlantic coast, like Maryland, Virginia, and the Carolinas, which have many of the nation's best college soccer teams. In women's soccer, the North Carolina Tar Heels have won 22 national titles, the most of any school, and in men's soccer, Virginia has won 7 NCAA National Championships, the third most of any school.

The start of Major League Soccer brought professional soccer teams to Southern cities such as FC Dallas, Houston Dynamo, D.C. United, Orlando City, Inter Miami, Nashville SC, Atlanta United, Austin FC and Charlotte FC. The current second division soccer league in the U.S., the USL Championship, began in the coastal Southeast with teams in Charleston, Richmond, Charlotte, Wilmington, Raleigh, Virginia Beach, and Atlanta.

Major sports teams in the South

The Southern region has many professional sports teams in the "Big Five" leagues (NFL, NBA, MLS, NHL, and MLB), and together they have won many championships. Professional leagues such as the National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB), National Basketball Association (NBA), Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), National Hockey League (NHL), Major League Soccer (MLS), and National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), have teams in the following cities and areas:

• Dallas-Fort Worth: Cowboys (NFL), Rangers (MLB), Mavericks (NBA), Stars (NHL), FC Dallas (MLS), Wings (WNBA)
• Washington, D.C.: Commanders (NFL), Nationals (MLB), Wizards (NBA), Capitals (NHL), United or the Eagles (MLS), Mystics (WNBA), Spirit (NWSL)
• Miami-Fort Lauderdale: Dolphins (NFL), Marlins (MLB), Heat (NBA), Panthers (NHL), Inter or the Herons (MLS)
• Houston: Texans (NFL), Astros (MLB), Rockets (NBA), Dynamo (MLS), Dash (NWSL)
• Atlanta: Falcons (NFL), Braves (MLB), Hawks (NBA), United (MLS), Dream (WNBA)
• Tampa Bay: Buccaneers (NFL), Rays (MLB), Lightning (NHL)
• Baltimore: Ravens (NFL), Orioles (MLB)
• Charlotte: Panthers (NFL), Hornets (NBA), Charlotte FC or the Crown (MLS)
• Nashville: Titans (NFL), Predators (NHL), Nashville SC (MLS)
• New Orleans: Saints (NFL), Pelicans (NBA)
• Orlando: Magic (NBA), Orlando City SC or the Lions (MLS), Pride (NWSL)
• San Antonio: Spurs (NBA)
• Jacksonville: Jaguars (NFL)
• Oklahoma City: Thunder (NBA)
• Memphis: Grizzlies (NBA)
• Raleigh: Hurricanes (NHL)
• Austin: Austin FC (MLS)
• Cary, North Carolina: Courage (NWSL)
• Louisville, Kentucky: Racing (NWSL)

Health

The map on the right shows that life expectancy is lower in most Southern states compared to the rest of the country. The South has higher rates of obesity, high blood pressure, and diabetes.

The region also has more people who get very sick from strokes and experience memory problems earlier than in other parts of the United States. Some Southern areas have more hospital visits and health problems linked to smoking, not enough exercise, and not eating enough fruits and vegetables.

Politics

Main article: Politics of the Southern United States

After the time called Reconstruction in the 1880s and 1890s, leaders in the South made it harder for many people to vote. This meant that some groups did not have a say in how the country was run. The region became known as the "Solid South," and one political group became very powerful.

Later, important laws were passed to make sure everyone could vote and be treated fairly. This changed the political landscape of the South. Over time, more people in the South began to support different political parties.

The South has been home to many important political leaders and movements throughout history. Some of these leaders have gone on to become President of the United States.

As of 2025, most southern states still allow the death penalty, except for Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Race relations

Native Americans

Native Americans have lived in what is now called the American South for nearly 12,000 years. Over time, more of their land was taken until they were defeated by settlers in conflicts ending in the War of 1812 and the Seminole Wars. Most of the surviving population was moved west to a place called Indian Territory, which is now Oklahoma.

Civil rights movement

Main articles: Civil rights movement, Montgomery bus boycott, and Martin Luther King Jr.

The South was very important for major events in the lives of African Americans in the 1900s. Two big events were the Great Migration and the American Civil Rights Movement. During the Great Migration, which started during World War I and peaked during World War II, many Black people left the South to find better jobs in factories and other places in the North.

This movement helped grow the Civil Rights Movement, which worked against unfair laws and rules in the South. Many important events happened there, like the Montgomery bus boycott, the Mississippi Freedom Summer, the march in Selma, Alabama, and important writings such as King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail". You can visit places like the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument and the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park in Atlanta to learn more.

Racial integration

During the 1950s and 1960s, integrating sports teams that had only white players became very important. This was tied to ideas of fairness and making sure everyone had a chance to play. The Atlantic Coast Conference helped lead this change. A big moment came in 1966 when a team from Texas Western College with five Black players won a big championship, showing that everyone should have a chance.

Congress ends segregation (1964) and guarantees voting rights (1965)

Main articles: Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965

In 1964 and 1965, important laws were passed to end unfair treatment based on race and to make sure everyone could vote. These laws were a big step toward fairness and equality for all people.

New Great Migration

Main article: New Great Migration

After the Civil Rights Movement, many African Americans began moving back to the South from the North. Today, cities like Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, and Houston have large African American populations. The South has made progress in fairness and equality, though there is still work to be done.

Symbolism

The Confederate battle flag is often used to represent the South, showing support for states' rights and Southern traditions. Some groups, like the League of the South, value the history of the South highly and support the idea of defending its heritage. There have been many debates across the country and in the South about whether to display the Confederate flag at government buildings, name places after leaders from that time, and show statues or monuments connected to that history.

Other important symbols of the South include the Bonnie Blue Flag, magnolia trees, and the song "Dixie".

Population centers

The South used to be mostly rural until the 1940s. But since the middle of the last century, more and more people have been moving to cities and big towns. Below are tables showing the biggest cities, counties, and areas in the South. Houston is the biggest city in this part of the United States.

Major cities

Major counties

Major metropolitan areas

Asterisk indicates part of the metropolitan area is outside the states classified as Southern by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Major combined statistical areas

Southern states

The Southern United States includes several states as defined by the Census Bureau. While Washington, D.C. is part of this region, it is the capital city of the United States and not a state.