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  • this really only applies to New York, as New York City is in the bottom little bit of the state’s southern nubbin and the rest of the state is commonly called “Upstate New York” since when people outside the northeast refer to New York, they’re talking about New York City, rather than the state of New York. thus Upstate New York was shortened to Upstate. (it seems to hold that most people i know who grew up in the northeast call New York City “NYC” rather than what i used growing up which was “New York.”

    I am an american, I grew up in a state in the south west, no one ever used the term “going upstate” for anything because there was no such place to go.

    I guarantee you only see dialog such as this in media set in NYC.

  • It's common in states that have a lower population center, geographically. I'm in Minnesota, and our Twin Cities are in the southern third of the state.

    "Going up north (to the cabin)" is our spin on "upstate", because (for most people) there isn't much of a reason to go much more north than we already do.

  • It's a New York thing. That state loosely divides into two regions: New York City to the south, and everything else to the north ("upstate"). I have heard people refer to the New York City area as "downstate" but that term is less common.

    Similarly, Manhattan is loosely split into its northern portion (uptown), middle portion (midtown), and southern portion (downtown).

  • My understanding is that it means going, loosely, to the opposite side of the state of the major metropolitan area in that state. Upstate NY is the northwest part, upstate MA is the west part, upstate PA is the northeast part. I'm looking around, and it seems to also 1) only be used on a few states, 2) usually is on the north half (but not always), and 3) is somewhat interchangable with "rural".

  • Yes, the northern part of the state. Typically its also far away from major cities into a more rural area.

  • As others have said, going to the northern part. Depending on the state it usually carries with it the idea of a change of scenery abd culture.

    For example a New Yorker may say “upstate” referring to the more rural areas.

    Similar to how “out west” in early US history meant “wild and untamed country full of potential, opportunities and danger”

    While I’ve never heard down state I have heard similar.

    “Down south” or “below I10” or “Cajun country” in parts of Louisiana and Mississippi referring to the gulf, more Catholic Cajun areas. And down south in other states referring to the southern states.

86 comments