History Main / FlyoverCountry

** Omaha: A somewhat isolated city used as shorthand for "city in the middle of nowhere", i.e. that podunk town far, ''faaaaar'' away from everything you know and love that you're forced to move to because it was the only job you could find. (See also: Des Moines, Iowa.) Which isn't uncalled for. Firstly, Omaha has a strong job market, anchored by four Fortune 500 companies and a large high-tech sector, and secondly, it ''is'' a long way from anywhere: a three-hour drive to Kansas City, seven and a half to Denver, eight to Chicago, two whole days to New York City, and ''three days'' to Los Angeles. Omaha has featured in a few movies, mostly thanks to native son Creator/AlexanderPayne. It's been the host for the NCAA College World Series since 1950 (and the current hosting contract runs through 2035), so Creator/{{ESPN}} shows up with their broadcast trucks once a year. Also home to [[UsefulNotes/YanksWithTanks the Strategic]] [[UsefulNotes/PeaceThroughSuperiorFirepower Air Command.]]

* UsefulNotes/{{Texas}}, though [[EverythingIsBigInTexas its size]] and resulting diversity mean that there's usually lots of overlap with tropes that apply more specifically to the DeepSouth and American Southwest. Also, thanks to Westerns, Texas has [[EverythingIsBigInTexas its]] [[TheFriendlyTexan own]] [[AmericansAreCowboys stereotypes]]. In addition, untrue to the FlyoverCountry trope, Texas is well known for it's striking desert landscapes. Although, much as with California, most people don't understand that there is a vast distance between the well-known large cities and the well-known nice landscapes.

** Salt Lake City: The Mormon church's base of operations. Home to the Jazz, Real Salt Lake, the Aggies and Salt Lake Temple. Hosted the 2002 Winter Olympics for some reason.

** UsefulNotes/{{Milwaukee}}: Beer, motorcycles, and ''Series/HappyDays''. The mayor got beaten with a pipe once. Non-residents of the state seem to think this is the only city in the state.

* Wyoming: The least populated U.S. state, has a NewOldWest image of cowboys, valleys and farmland galore, hence it's nickname of "The Cowboy State". Yellowstone National Park is located in this state.

* [[UsefulNotes/NewYorkState Upstate New York]]: Technically outside the region, but often given the same treatment, especially by people from UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity. It is in fact quite different from most media depictions of New York; descriptions of it as a virgin wilderness in the works of James Fenimore Cooper are, in many cases, only slightly exaggerated.
* UsefulNotes/{{Pennsylvania}}: While the eastern part of the state, especially around UsefulNotes/{{Philadelphia}}, is never considered part of the Midwest, the western half sometimes is depending on who you ask.
** UsefulNotes/{{Pittsburgh}}: Its industrial legacy paints it as a blue-collar paradise, which held true until the '80s or so when the steel mills started shutting down and its economy became more service-based like other cities in the region. Nowadays it has a more mixed culture.
** Pennsylvania itself has a mini flyover country. The state is often described as "[[UsefulNotes/{{Philadelphia}} Philly]] in the east, UsefulNotes/{{Pittsburgh}} in the west, and [[UsefulNotes/{{Appalachia}} Kentucky/]][[DeepSouth Alabama/]]''Film/{{Deliverance}}'' in between", referring to the large rural zone in the middle of the state where coal mining, farming, and manufacturing make up the economic backbone. The nickname "Pennsyltucky" (or, more politely, "The T"[[note]]If you remove the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh metropolitan areas from Pennsylvania, what you have left is shaped roughly like the letter T. "The T" is used far more in political circles than "Pennsyltucky", as the latter can be seen as insulting, especially when used by an [[NWordPrivileges urban politician]].[[/note]]) describes this region with either derision or SelfDeprecation.
* UsefulNotes/{{Ohio}}
** UsefulNotes/{{Cleveland}}: The butt of many jokes due to being considered the original urban decay example in the country. That and [[NeverLiveItDown the river]] [[EpicFail caught fire once]].
** UsefulNotes/{{Toledo|Ohio}}: It's where Jeeps get made. Other than that, it's just another sleepy Midwestern manufacturing town that's well past its prime.
** Columbus: Rarely seen or mentioned in fiction, despite being both the state's capital and largest city[[note]](''Series/FamilyTies'' was about the only major media production in recent decades to prominently feature Columbus)[[/note]], but it's another hotbed of sociological study and commercial test runs due to its racial and age demographics closely mirroring the United States as a whole. Furthermore, the city lacks a strong regional identity, even compared to other Ohio cities. Basically, it's Peoria or Muncie [[RecycledInSpace as a major metropolis.]]
** Cincinnati: Named after {{Cincinnatus}} and by extension UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington, this quaint city doesn’t conform to what a typical Ohio city is. Owing to its proximity to Kentucky and the ensuring cultural impact, Cincy is often called “the northernmost southern city”. It was America's first major inland city, and in bygone years, it was known as the hub city for the trade of pigs and pork, and was a major stopping point on the Underground Railroad that smuggled slaves out of the South. Consequently it has a very prominent museum dedicated to the Underground Railroad. In modern times, Cincinnati is known for its own special type of chili, the headquarters of GE Aircraft Engines, the supermarket chain Kroger, and Procter & Gamble, and for one of NCAA basketball's few intra-city rivalries, between Xavier University and the University of Cincinnati. Oh, and [[Series/WKRPInCincinnati a TV show about a radio station]].
** The Hall of Justice from ''WesternAnimation/SuperFriends'' was based off of Cincinnati's old ArtDeco train station, Union Terminal. This was because Creator/HannaBarbera was owned at the time by Cincy-based Taft Broadcasting (yes, as in ''[[UsefulNotes/WilliamHowardTaft that]]'' Taft), and one of the H-B artists presumably used it as inspiration. (It came full-circle when the Series/{{Arrowverse}} used footage of Union Terminal as a building that would later be confirmed as their counterpart to the Hall of Justice.)
** One joke (falsely) holds that more astronauts come from Ohio than any other state, the punchline being that Earth's orbit is as far away from Ohio as you can get.
* UsefulNotes/{{Michigan}}
** UsefulNotes/{{Detroit}}: Long famous for being the beating heart of America's automobile industry, and more recently infamous for suffering from decades of economic and demographic drought after said industry began to decline in the face of stiff competition from foreign imports.
* Indiana
** UsefulNotes/{{Indianapolis}}: Home of the Indy 500. And in recent times, home of Creator/PeytonManning’s team (though he would finish his NFL career in Denver).
** Muncie: A small Midwestern city that, not unlike Peoria, would be another obscure burg if not for its very "averageness" turning it into a hotbed of sociological research. The husband-and-wife team of Robert and Helen Lynd selected it for their [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middletown_studies "Middletown studies"]] in the 1920s and '30s, and since then it's become a popular subject for pollsters and follow-up studies.

* UsefulNotes/{{Wisconsin}}:
** UsefulNotes/{{Milwaukee}}: Beer, motorcycles, and ''Series/HappyDays''. The mayor got beaten with a pipe once. Non-residents of the state seem to think this is the only city in the state.
** Madison: More beer, the Badgers, a metric ton of restaurants and bars, hippies, and car thieves. ''The Boy Who Drank Too Much'' was largely filmed here. Some exterior shots in ''Film/BackToSchool'' were as well. Former home of both Clyde Stubblefield and a [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar Civil War POW camp]]. The Badgers' football stadium occupies most of the former grounds of the POW camp.
** Green Bay: [[SerialEscalation Even More Beer]], snow, and [[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague the Packers]]. Oldest continuously inhabited French settlement in the US, founded 1634.
* UsefulNotes/{{Minnesota}}: Often viewed as being a {{Flanderization}} of every Midwestern stereotype, home of people with thick, Scandinavian-descended accents who embody the American version of JapanesePoliteness, known (of course) as MinnesotaNice.
** [[UsefulNotes/TwinCities Minneapolis and St. Paul]]: A strange blend of West Coast weirdness and Midwestern friendliness. The main business center between Chicago and Seattle and home to a massive theater scene and a thriving Somali community, as well as a major airline hub and the only 24-hour rapid transit system outside of New York, Chicago, or Philly. Do not get stuck there in the winter unless you like slowly freezing to death.

* Kansas: The geographic center of the lower 48 states, Kansas' image, even more than the rest of the Midwest, is that of conservative small-town normality. The creators of ComicBook/{{Superman}} had him raised in a Kansas town literally called Smallville to emphasize that he grew up as TheAllAmericanBoy, this very wiki's trope for describing a character pulled into an abnormal world is titled NotInKansasAnymore, and when Thomas Frank (a native son of the state) wrote a sociological non-fiction book exploring the rise of reactionary populism in rural America, he titled it ''What's the Matter with Kansas?''.
* Colorado: While the state is usually associated with a NewOldWest image of winter resorts and former mining towns nestled amidst towering mountain peaks, that image only applies to its western half. The ''eastern'' half is a different story entirely, being an extension of the High Plains of western Kansas and Nebraska. UsefulNotes/{{Denver}}, the state's capital and largest city, has sometimes been said to mark the border between the Midwest and the West both geographically (it is literally nestled on the edge of the Colorado Front Range, with the High Plains to the east and mountains to the west) and culturally.

* Arkansas
** Little Rock: Home of [[UsefulNotes/BillClinton the]] [[UsefulNotes/HillaryRodhamClinton Clintons]], Music/{{Evanescence}}, Sheryl Underwood and Bobby Portis. And in recent times, it's where Creator/RodgerBumpass, the voice of [[WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants Squidward]], was born.
** Fayetteville: The Arkansas Razorbacks, barbecue, a growing theater scene and biker culture. Bill and Hillary Clinton lived here while teaching law at the University of Arkansas School of Law.
** Bentonville: A small city outside Fayetteville that, not unlike Peoria, would be another obscure out-of-the-way mini-city if not for the fact that UsefulNotes/{{Walmart}}, one of the world's biggest and most recognizable retail corporations, was founded and is based there.

* Wisconsin:

Culturally, the flyover region is a lot more diverse in religion and ethnicity than popular folklore tends to credit it. Most people are aware of the large African-American and Latino populations within the cities, but these cities receive immigrants from all over the world. For example, the Detroit suburb of Dearborn has had a healthy Arab population for over a century, and it's home to the largest mosque in North America; the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area contains the largest Hmong and Somali communities in the country; and several Native American reservations are located in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the Dakotas.

* UsefulNotes/{{Texas}}, though [[EverythingIsBigInTexas its size]] and resulting diversity mean that there's usually lots of overlap with tropes that apply more specifically to the DeepSouth and American Southwest. Also, thanks to Westerns, Texas has its own stereotypes. In addition, untrue to the FlyoverCountry trope, Texas is well known for it's striking desert landscapes. Although, much as with California, most people don't understand that there is a vast distance between the well-known large cities and the well-known nice landscapes.

** Little Rock: Home of the Clintons, Music/{{Evanescence}}, Sheryl Underwood and Bobby Portis. And in recent times, it's where Creator/RodgerBumpass, the voice of [[WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants Squidward]], was born.

** Bentonville: A small city outside Fayetteville that, not unlike Peoria, would be another obscure out-of-the-way mini-city if not for the fact that Walmart, one of the world's biggest and most recognizable retail corporations, was founded and is based there.

** Cheyenne: The state capital, home to Cheyenne Frontier Days. It's well-known to railfans as the base of operations for the Union Pacific steam program.

* UsefulNotes/NorthDakota: Often depicted as a frozen wasteland with no people, the state has had an influx of wealth due to an oil boom in the first part of Main/TheNewTens, and is home to tallest structure in the Western hemisphere, the KRDK-TV mast.
** Fargo: The largest city of the state, famous for the [[Film/{{Fargo}} film]] and [[Series/{{Fargo}} TV series]] named after it.

** Cheyenne: The state capitol, home to Cheyenne Frontier Days. It's well-known to railfans as the base of operations for the Union Pacific steam program.

* Wyoming: The Cowboy State, with farmland, mountains and valleys galore. Yellowstone National Park is located in this state.

Politically, these cities tend to be much more liberal--socially and economically--than the surrounding region. Many of them are ([[DyingTown or were]]) industrial towns with a strong presence of labor unions and minorities, plus college students who stuck around after graduating. In fact, people in the surrounding, rural areas who don't fit in with the arch-conservative lifestyle will tend to relocate to the nearest decent-sized city. These factors frequently produce Democratic islands within states that are otherwise Republican strongholds. Many don't realize that Milwaukee was one of the hotbeds of the Socialist Party up until the second RedScare, and while North Dakota does lean to the right, it has a publicly-owned banking system unique in the nation.

* Iowa: A sea of corn that people only ever care about every four years, when it plays a pivotal role as the first state in the [[UsefulNotes/AmericanPoliticalSystem Presidential primary cycle]], leading journalists and pollsters to swarm the state and politicians to embarrass themselves trying to pander to its 3.1 million people. (If you're wondering why [[AllNaturalSnakeOil corn ethanol]] was ever taken seriously as an alternative energy source: this is why.) After that, it vanishes back into obscurity even before the actual election; despite being a swing state these days, its small population means that it's rarely a decisive factor in the election like Ohio is. Their biggest exports seem to be agriculture, Music/{{Slipknot}} and Music/StoneSour's music, Creator/ElijahWood and Creator/AshtonKutcher.

* Iowa: A sea of corn that people only ever care about every four years, when it plays a pivotal role as the first state in the [[UsefulNotes/AmericanPoliticalSystem Presidential primary cycle]], leading journalists and pollsters to swarm the state and politicians to embarrass themselves trying to pander to its 3.1 million people. (If you're wondering why [[AllNaturalSnakeOil corn ethanol]] was ever taken seriously as an alternative energy source: this is why.) After that, it vanishes back into obscurity even before the actual election; despite being a swing state these days, its small population means that it's rarely a decisive factor in the election like Ohio is. Their biggest exports seem to be agriculture, Creator/ElijahWood, Creator/AshtonKutcher, Music/{{Slipknot}} and Music/StoneSour.

* Iowa: A sea of corn that people only ever care about every four years, when it plays a pivotal role as the first state in the [[UsefulNotes/AmericanPoliticalSystem Presidential primary cycle]], leading journalists and pollsters to swarm the state and politicians to embarrass themselves trying to pander to its 3.1 million people. (If you're wondering why [[AllNaturalSnakeOil corn ethanol]] was ever taken seriously as an alternative energy source: this is why.) After that, it vanishes back into obscurity even before the actual election; despite being a swing state these days, its small population means that it's rarely a decisive factor in the election like Ohio is. Their biggest exports seem to be agriculture, Creator/ElijahWood, Creator/AshtonKutcher and the music of Music/{{Slipknot}} and Music/StoneSour.

* Iowa: A sea of corn that people only ever care about every four years, when it plays a pivotal role as the first state in the [[UsefulNotes/AmericanPoliticalSystem Presidential primary cycle]], leading journalists and pollsters to swarm the state and politicians to embarrass themselves trying to pander to its 3.1 million people. (If you're wondering why [[AllNaturalSnakeOil corn ethanol]] was ever taken seriously as an alternative energy source: this is why.) After that, it vanishes back into obscurity even before the actual election; despite being a swing state these days, its small population means that it's rarely a decisive factor in the election like Ohio is. Their biggest exports seem to be agriculture, the music of Music/{{Slipknot}} and Music/StoneSour, Creator/ElijahWood and Creator/AshtonKutcher.

** Des Moines: Home to one of the first caucuses of the presidential primary cycle, and where many presidential campaigns' HQs are located. Also a center for the US insurance industry.

* Iowa: A sea of corn that people only ever care about every four years, when it plays a pivotal role as the first state in the [[UsefulNotes/AmericanPoliticalSystem Presidential primary cycle]], leading journalists and pollsters to swarm the state and politicians to embarrass themselves trying to pander to its 3.1 million people. (If you're wondering why [[AllNaturalSnakeOil corn ethanol]] was ever taken seriously as an alternative energy source: this is why.) After that, it vanishes back into obscurity even before the actual election; despite being a swing state these days, its small population means that it's rarely a decisive factor in the election like Ohio is. Their biggest exports seem to be agriculture and the music of Music/{{Slipknot}} and Music/StoneSour.

** Cedar Rapids: Nicknamed the "City of Five Seasons", for the so-called "fifth season," which is time to enjoy the other four. A number of famous actors in Hollywood during the 90s, such as Creator/ElijahWood and Creator/AshtonKutcher, hailed from here.

* Iowa: A sea of corn that people only ever care about every four years, when it plays a pivotal role as the first state in the [[UsefulNotes/AmericanPoliticalSystem Presidential primary cycle]], leading journalists and pollsters to swarm the state and politicians to embarrass themselves trying to pander to its 3.1 million people. (If you're wondering why [[AllNaturalSnakeOil corn ethanol]] was ever taken seriously as an alternative energy source: this is why.) After that, it vanishes back into obscurity even before the actual election; despite being a swing state these days, its small population means that it's rarely a decisive factor in the election like Ohio is.

Sparsely populated, largely rural, and lacking in photogenic glamour, it rarely shows up in works which attempt to appear trendy or up-to-date. It gets much more play in political circles, however, as the quirks of the American electoral system make appeals to smaller states essential. When one talks about the "red state/blue state" divide in American politics, this is what is meant by "red state" -- conservative-leaning rural/suburban areas where UsefulNotes/{{Walmart}}, chain restaurants, [[UsefulNotes/AmericanChurches church]], [[UsefulNotes/AmericanEducationalSystem high school football]], and the Republican Party are pillars of local communities. The phrase "flyover country" was, in fact, coined by right-wing [[TalkShow talk radio]] hosts, to ridicule their imagined concept of what coastal liberal elites thought of the American interior.[[note]]With that said, that "ridiculous, imagined concept" is in many ways far closer to the truth than many "coastal liberal elites" would care to admit, with New York- and Los Angeles-based media having a nasty habit of writing off everywhere between the Appalachians and the Rockies as hopelessly backward redneck country whose lot in life would be vastly improved if they would just do what said media think they should, with no real understanding of the life or issues in that part of the country, and as such not even worth listening to because of course they're all racist hicks with no redeeming values. As noted elsewhere in this article, there is a great deal more ethnic and political diversity in Flyover Country than fiction would have you believe, and many of its denizens -- particularly its Democrats -- deeply resent being written off this way.[[/note]]

* Nebraska: Farmland extraordinaire, populated with friendly, fat old white guys in denim overalls and straw hats, chewing on a stalk of wheat and talking slowly about whether it's rained enough this year. Completely ignorant of the outside world (probably because [[OfferVoidInNebraska all offers are void there]]), and, if the writer's sympathetic, struggling with drought, debt, bad markets, or all three.[[note]]This is all nonsense, of course. Nebraska farmers wear baseball caps, not straw hats.[[/note]] Their biggest exports seem to be agriculture, Creator/AndrewRannells, and Creator/LarryTheCableGuy. Well, and also Creator/JohnnyCarson back in the day. Oh yeah, [[CornyNebraska don't forget the corn]].

* Nebraska: Farmland extraordinaire, populated with friendly, fat old white guys in denim overalls and straw hats, chewing on a stalk of wheat and talking slowly about whether it's rained enough this year. Completely ignorant of the outside world (probably because [[OfferVoidInNebraska all offers are void there]]), and, if the writer's sympathetic, struggling with drought, debt, bad markets, or all three.[[note]]This is all nonsense, of course. Nebraska farmers wear baseball caps, not straw hats.[[/note]] Their biggest exports seem to be agriculture, Creator/AndrewRannells, and Creator/LarryTheCableGuy. Well, and also Creator/JohnnyCarson back in the day.

* UsefulNotes/{{Denver}}, Colorado

* Indiana
** UsefulNotes/{{Indianapolis}}: Home of the Indy 500. And in recent times, home of Creator/PeytonManning’s team (though he would finish his NFL career in Denver).
** Muncie: A small Midwestern city that, not unlike Peoria, would be another obscure burg if not for its very "averageness" turning it into a hotbed of sociological research. The husband-and-wife team of Robert and Helen Lynd selected it for their [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middletown_studies "Middletown studies"]] in the 1920s and '30s, and since then it's become a popular subject for pollsters and follow-up studies.
* Iowa: A sea of corn that people only ever care about every four years, when it plays a pivotal role as the first state in the [[UsefulNotes/AmericanPoliticalSystem Presidential primary cycle]], leading journalists and pollsters to swarm the state and politicians to embarrass themselves trying to pander to its 3.1 million people. (If you're wondering why [[AllNaturalSnakeOil corn ethanol]] was ever taken seriously as an alternative energy source: this is why.) After that, it vanishes back into obscurity even before the actual election; despite being a swing state these days, its small population means that it's rarely a decisive factor in the election like Ohio is.
* Missouri
** UsefulNotes/StLouis: Once one of America's premier cities, it's since become a poster child for urban decay. Home to the Cardinals, the Gateway Arch, Lambert International Airport, and its own unique forms of pizza and barbecue. Hosted the 1904 Summer Olympics for some reason. Residents hate those from Kansas City and/or Chicago.
** UsefulNotes/KansasCity: Chicago's less-attractive little sister. Baseball, barbecue, jazz music, and organized crime galore. Known for its high incomes, large meatpacking industry, and endless mess of suburban sprawl.
* UsefulNotes/{{Michigan}}
** UsefulNotes/{{Detroit}}: Long famous for being the beating heart of America's automobile industry, and more recently infamous for suffering from decades of economic and demographic drought after said industry began to decline in the face of stiff competition from foreign imports.

** Madison: More beer, the Badgers, a metric ton of restaurants and bars, hippies and car thieves. ''The Boy Who Drank Too Much'' was largely filmed here. Some exterior shots in ''Film/BackToSchool'' were as well. Former home of both Clyde Stubblefield and a [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar Civil War POW camp]]. The Badgers' football stadium occupies most of the former grounds of the POW camp.

** Omaha: A somewhat isolated city used as shorthand for "city in the middle of nowhere", i.e. that podunk town far, ''faaaaar'' away from everything you know and love that you're forced to move to because it was the only job you could find. (See also: Des Moines, Iowa.) Which isn't uncalled for. Firstly, Omaha has a strong job market, anchored by four Fortune 500 companies and a large high-tech sector; and secondly, it's a long way from anywhere: a three-hour drive to Kansas City, seven and a half to Denver, eight to Chicago, two whole days to New York City, and ''three days'' to Los Angeles. Omaha has featured in a few movies, mostly thanks to native son Creator/AlexanderPayne. It's been the host for the NCAA College World Series since 1950 (and the current hosting contract runs through 2035), so Creator/{{ESPN}} shows up with their broadcast trucks once a year. Also home to [[UsefulNotes/YanksWithTanks the Strategic]] [[UsefulNotes/PeaceThroughSuperiorFirepower Air Command.]]

* UsefulNotes/{{Ohio}}
** UsefulNotes/{{Cleveland}} - The butt of many jokes due to being considered the original urban decay example in the country. That and [[NeverLiveItDown the river]] [[EpicFail caught fire once]].
** UsefulNotes/{{Toledo|Ohio}} - It's where Jeeps get made. Other than that, it's just another sleepy Midwestern manufacturing town that's well past its prime.
** Columbus: Rarely seen or mentioned in fiction, despite being both the state's capital and largest city[[note]](''Series/FamilyTies'' was about the only major media production in recent decades to prominently feature Columbus)[[/note]], but it's another hotbed of sociological study and commercial test runs due to its racial and age demographics closely mirroring the United States as a whole. Furthermore, the city lacks a strong regional identity, even compared to other Ohio cities. Basically, it's Peoria or Muncie [[RecycledInSpace as a major metropolis.]]
** Cincinnati: Named after {{Cincinnatus}} and by extension UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington, this quaint city doesn’t conform to what a typical Ohio city is. Owing to its proximity to Kentucky and the ensuring cultural impact, Cincy is often called “the northernmost southern city”. It was America's first major inland city, and in bygone years, it was known as the hub city for the trade of pigs and pork, and was a major stopping point on the Underground Railroad that smuggled slaves out of the South. Consequently it has a very prominent museum dedicated to the Underground Railroad. In modern times, Cincinnati is known for its own special type of chili, the headquarters of GE Aircraft Engines, Kroger and Procter & Gamble, and for one of NCAA basketball's few intra-city rivalries, between Xavier University and the University of Cincinnati. Oh, and [[Series/WKRPInCincinnati a TV show about a radio station]].
** The Hall of Justice from ''WesternAnimation/SuperFriends'' was based off of the city's old art-deco train station, Union Terminal; this was because Creator/HannaBarbera was owned at the time by Cincy-based Taft Broadcasting (yes, as in ''[[UsefulNotes/WilliamHowardTaft that]]'' Taft), and one of the H-B artists presumably used it as inspiration. (It came full-circle when the Series/{{Arrowverse}} used footage of Union Terminal as a building that would later be confirmed as their counterpart to the Hall of Justice.)
** One joke (falsely) holds that more astronauts come from Ohio than any other state, the punchline being that Earth's orbit is as far away from Ohio as you can get.
* UsefulNotes/{{Pennsylvania}} (outside of UsefulNotes/{{Philadelphia}})
** UsefulNotes/{{Pittsburgh}}: Its industrial legacy paints it as a blue-collar paradise, which held true until the 80s or so when the factories started shutting down and its economy became more service-based like other cities in the region. Nowadays it has a more mixed culture.
** Pennsylvania itself has a mini flyover country. The state is often described as "[[UsefulNotes/{{Philadelphia}} Philly]] in the east, UsefulNotes/{{Pittsburgh}} in the west, and [[UsefulNotes/{{Appalachia}} Kentucky/]][[DeepSouth Alabama/]]''Film/{{Deliverance}}'' in between", referring to the large rural zone in the middle of the state where coal mining, farming, and manufacturing make up the economic backbone. The nickname "Pennsyltucky" (or, more politely, "The T"[[note]]If you remove the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh metropolitan areas from Pennsylvania, what you have left is shaped roughly like the letter T. "The T" is used far more in political circles than "Pennsyltucky", as the latter can be seen as insulting, especially when used by an [[NWordPrivileges urban politician]].[[/note]]) describes this region with either derision or SelfDeprecation.
* UsefulNotes/{{Texas}}, though [[EverythingIsBigInTexas its size]] and resulting diversity mean that there's usually lots of overlap with tropes that apply more specifically to the DeepSouth and American Southwest. Also, thanks to Westerns, Texas has it's own stereotypes. In addition, untrue to the FlyoverCountry trope, Texas is well known for it's striking desert landscapes. Although much as with California, most people don't understand that there is a vast distance between the well-known large cities and the well-known nice landscapes.

* [[UsefulNotes/NewYorkState Upstate New York]]: Technically outside the region, but often given the same treatment, especially by people from UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity. It is in fact quite different from most media depictions of New York; descriptions of it as a virgin wilderness in the works of James Fenimore Cooper are, in many cases, only slightly exaggerated.

** The Hall of Justice from ''WesternAnimation/SuperFriends'' was based off of the city's old art-deco train station, Union Terminal; this was because Creator/HannaBarbera was owned at the time by Cincy-based Taft Broadcasting (yes, as in ''[[UsefulNotes/WilliamHowardTaft that]]'' Taft), and one of the H-B artists presumably used it as inspiration. (It came full-circle when the Series/{{Arrowverse}} used footage of Union Terminal as a build that would later be confirmed as their counterpart to the Hall of Justice.)

** Cincinnati: Named after {{Cincinnatus}} and by extension UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington, this quaint city doesn’t conform to what a typical Ohio city is. Owing to its proximity to Kentucky and the ensuring cultural impact, Cincy is often called “the northernmost southern city”. It was America's first major inland city, and in bygone years, it was known as the hub city for the trade of pigs and pork, and was a major stopping point on the Underground Railroad that smuggled slaves out of the South. Consequently it has a very prominent museum dedicated to the Underground Railroad. In modern times, Cincinnati is known for its own special type of chili, the headquarters of GE Aircraft Engines and Procter & Gamble, and for one of NCAA basketball's few intra-city rivalries, between Xavier University and the University of Cincinnati. Oh, and [[Series/WKRPInCincinnati a TV show about a radio station]].

Sparsely populated, largely rural, and lacking in photogenic glamour, it rarely shows up in works which attempt to appear trendy or up-to-date. It gets much more play in political circles, however, as the quirks of the American electoral system make appeals to smaller states essential. When one talks about the "red state/blue state" divide in American politics, this is what is meant by "red state" -- conservative-leaning rural/suburban areas where UsefulNotes/{{Walmart}}, chain restaurants, [[UsefulNotes/AmericanChurches church]], [[UsefulNotes/AmericanEducationalSystem high school football]], and the Republican Party are pillars of local communities. The phrase "flyover country" was, in fact, coined by right-wing [[TalkShow talk radio]] hosts, to ridicule their imagined concept of what coastal liberal elites thought of the American interior.[[note]]With that said, that "ridiculous, imagined concept" is in many ways far closer to the truth than many "coastal liberal elites" would care to admit, with New York- and Los Angeles-based media having a nasty habit of writing off everywhere between the Appalachians and the Rockies as hopelessly backward redneck country whose lot in life would be vastly improved if they would just do what said media think they should, with no real understanding of the life or issues in that part of the country and, as such, not even worth listening to because of course they're all racist hicks with no redeeming values. As noted elsewhere in this article, there is a great deal more ethnic and political diversity in Flyover Country than fiction would have you believe, and many of its denizens -- particularly its Democrats -- deeply resent being written off this way.[[/note]]

Sparsely populated, largely rural, and lacking in photogenic glamour, it rarely shows up in works which attempt to appear trendy or up-to-date. It gets much more play in political circles, however, as the quirks of the American electoral system make appeals to smaller states essential. When one talks about the "red state/blue state" divide in American politics, this is what is meant by "red state" -- conservative-leaning rural/suburban areas where UsefulNotes/{{Walmart}}, chain restaurants, [[UsefulNotes/AmericanChurches church]], [[UsefulNotes/AmericanEducationalSystem high school football]], and the Republican Party are pillars of local communities. The phrase "flyover country" was, in fact, coined by right-wing [[TalkShow talk radio]] hosts, to ridicule their imagined concept of what coastal liberal elites thought of the American interior.

** UsefulNotes/{{Pittsburgh}}: Its industrial legacy paints it as a blue-collar paradise, which held true until the 80's or so when the factories started shutting down and its economy became more service-based like other cities in the region. Nowadays it has a more mixed culture.
** Pennsylvania itself has a mini flyover country. The state is often described as "[[UsefulNotes/{{Philadelphia}} Philly]] in the east, UsefulNotes/{{Pittsburgh}} in the west, and [[UsefulNotes/{{Appalachia}} Kentucky/]][[DeepSouth Alabama/]]''Film/{{Deliverance}}'' in between", referring to the large rural zone in the middle of the state where coal mining, farming, and manufacturing make up the economic backbone. The nickname "Pennsyltucky" (or, more politely, "The T"[[note]]If you remove the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh metropolitan areas from Pennsylvania, what you have left is shaped roughly like the letter T. "The T" is used far more in political circles than "Pennysltucky", as the latter can be seen as insulting, especially when used by an [[NWordPrivileges urban politician]].[[/note]]) describes this region with either derision or SelfDeprecation.