[TonyAnderson]

I think of the midwest as the 'second' phase of American expansion after the original states. Though there's exceptions. The Mountain West contains cities like Salt Lake and Denver, or basically those cities located within the huge Rocky Mountain range. Denver can be a little weird because it's basically the beginning of the Rocky's and the end of the plains. The hardest to gauge though is the sunbelt.

Some place Phoenix and Vegas in the Mountain West when they have much more characteristics of a sunbelt city. The same goes for most of Texas. They seem more sunbelt then midwest. Actually, they seem like neither - Texas is its own category. I think again it has to do with the time period the areas and cities were settled.