State Maps with Regional Councils and Alternatives by Census Regions and Divisions


Regional Community Development News - May 29, 2011 [regions-work]
Note: The RSS feed has been reconfigured and this is a repost.
States and their counties or equivalents are the two major political geographies in the United States. National and State data is collected for these boundaries. When it comes to regional analysis, the states are too large and the counties too small. Metropolitan statistical areas reflect major regional economic relationships, but that focus leaves out the non-metro counties. A longitudinal analysis for MSAs over decades is not fruitful, since the underlying composition changes.
A geospatial unit of analysis that is used in many states and could be used nation-wide is the sub-state district, generically known as the regional council. A majority of states have a complete system where the regional council is organized and may be a political subdivision. Long term analysis can be done for these State standard regions. The analyses can be used by these regions for programmatic purposes, such as economic development. Data solutions exist for States with an incomplete system or no system.

Following, by state, in relative geographic order based on Census Regions and Divisions, are maps of regional council regions, the names of regions and a means to get the map and check the organization via a link. …
Part 1 - Northeast and South
Part 2 – Midwest and West