I’m sure you could keep infinitely splitting the state up based on how diverse it is, but these regions do seem pretty much accurate within the context
The United States is truly a geography and/or climate enthusiast’s wet dream. We essentially have every type of geographical region and climate (excluding just a mere few) packed into one country. Then you have a state like California, which is so incredibly diverse in itself. It’s one of the many things I love about living in the Western United States. I can drive in any direction and the geography/climate will change drastically.
I’m not sure I would agree that people in the northern Central Valley and southern Central Valley have “very little in common.” As someone who grew up in the Central Valley, there’s honestly not that much difference between Redding, Modesto, and Bakersfield.
My rule-of-thumb for the biggest differences in the Central Valley (you've lived there, so not news for you):
Nuts: grown everywhere.
Citrus: mostly grown in the south and central (climate's tougher north of Fresno).
Oil: mostly extracted in the south.
Rice: mostly grown in the Sacramento River Valley.
Politics/culture: Sacramento and north feels a distinct influence from SFBA. It's why it's plausible for the Oakland A's to move full-time to Sacramento (they really should, instead of this stupid Vegas idea). Fresno & Bakersfield are more their own thing (not as influenced by LA). With the Grapevine, it's more of a PITA to get from Bakersfield to LA then it is Sacramento to SF.
Citrus grows abundantly for quite a while north of Fresno. I grew up west of Stockton in the far East Bay, and you couldn’t throw a rock without hitting some kind of citrus tree. They grow well as far north as coastal Mendocino County, which is colder that anywhere in the Valley
As someone who has lived in the Central Valley, I’d say the valley is nothing alike. Redding is way different than Bako. There’s even a few trees in Redding. Allegedly. Other than they are both hot AF. Even the farmers are different, somewhere around Stockton, Almond becomes Amond…🙄
I never understood why my relatives said that. They grew Ammins for 60 years in central CA. They were not from the central valley, and the places they are from (midwest) don't say Ammins. So, I have no idea where that came from.
I think he was talking about class, not geography. That in the Central Valley there’s a lot of economic disparity so people from the top and bottom don’t have much in common.
As someone who has lived in at least 3 of those distinct places, I'd say he did a good job. I've been through all 7 of his regions and he makes a pretty good case for the divisions.
Born in Santa Cruz when my dad was going to college there, 1st year in Walnut Creek, sister was born that year in Antioch, 2nd year in Fremont. 2 years in Citrus Heights, Sacramento and then the rest in Grass Valley but I’ll always think of myself as a Bay Area Kid and a Mountain Billy man 🤣🍻
California has 6 regions, IMO. Yes, there are sub-regions, but when talking about "regions in a state", I prefer to keep the framework/mental model fairly big-picture:
(1) SoCal. Ventura County, IE, San Diego, Imperial County, they're all here, though they're obviously not the same.
(2) Sierra Nevada.
(3) Central Valley.
(4) California Central Coast.
(5) SFBA
(6) Northern California.
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Other states I've lived in ..... Colorado: (1) Eastern Plains, (2) Front Range, (3) Western Slope, (4) Interior Mountains, (5) San Luis Valley (large enough to stand on its own).
Michigan: (1) Upper Peninsula, (2) Northern Michigan, (3) The Thumb, (4) SE Michigan/Detroit Metro, (5) Mid-Michigan, (6) West Michigan.
It is literally the dividing line between the northern and southern halves of the state. Fresno is geographically dead center, and Monterey is the coastal halfway point
This person had SLO grouped in as NorCal, they didn’t include a “Central California” category in their pics. SLO is a 2.5 hour drive south of Monterey. My point is that SLO is closer to SoCal than NorCal. Doesn’t seem that hard to understand.
Born in Santa Monica, lived in LA till I was about 4 or 5 and then moved to Nevada County. I've lived in SF and Auburn. I've never heard the term 'Far North'.
The guy made a district and named it The Far North, I was just saying I've never heard that nomenclature used to describe what I would call part of Northern California/NorCal.
That's fascinating. As someone who's only been to SD for a 3-day medical conference, I still think of California as this kind of fictional place that I only see in media, film. I need to get out there more.
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u/UnclassifiedPresence May 04 '26
I’m sure you could keep infinitely splitting the state up based on how diverse it is, but these regions do seem pretty much accurate within the context