Upstate New York - Definition

Definition

There is no clear or official boundary between Upstate New York and Downstate New York. Latitude is generally a consideration in whether or not a place is "upstate", as well as elevation and being away from sea level (hence the prefix "up", meaning both to the north and having a greater altitude). Distance from New York City is also a consideration. Complicating any definition is the usage of the word "upstate" (in lowercase) as a direction, rather than as the name of a region.

One usage locates the Upstate/Downstate boundary farther north at the point at which New York City's suburbs segue into its exurbs. This line would place most, but not all, of Westchester and Rockland counties south of the boundary, putting the northwestern edge of Rockland as well as the northernmost quarter of Westchester (such as Peekskill) in Upstate New York. Westchester, Rockland, and Putnam counties are the northernmost counties of the state of New York that are within the New York metropolitan area, with Putnam being the northernmost of all. This was the definition used (unsuccessfully) by the plaintiffs in the Federal redistricting case of Rodriguez v. Pataki. Another usage of the term "Upstate" excludes only New York City and Long Island.

One traditional, political definition of Upstate is "north of Bear Mountain" in Orange County, New York.

Another view places the boundary even farther north. Orange, Dutchess, and Ulster counties, even farther "upstate" (lower case) are part of the New York-Newark-Bridgeport, New York-New Jersey-Connecticut-Pennsylvania Combined Statistical Area (CSA), and also sometimes not identified as being part of Upstate (uppercase). This CSA-based definiton is used by some New York State agencies, such as the Office for the Aging. Because most New York City bedroom communities in Dutchess and Orange counties are situated in the southern part of those counties and the New York City's suburban public transportation system extends some distance north, the Upstate/Downstate boundary can be defined roughly by a border extended from Wassaic (in Dutchess County, where Metro-North's Harlem Line ends) across to Poughkeepsie, down to Newburgh and then across to Middletown and Port Jervis in Orange County. This definition of Upstate New York roughly corresponds with the area north of Interstate 84. This imaginary line also demarcates the northernmost reach of high housing prices associated with the Downstate region in contrast to the relatively low housing costs found farther upstate. It also roughly corresponds to the demarcation line between area code 914 (which covers most of the northern suburbs of New York City) and area code 845 (which covers the area immediately beyond that).

Particularly within Upstate New York, the demarcation of "Upstate" is often much farther north. For instance, many communities clearly beyond the New York City commuter orbit are part of New York City's media market, which includes Dutchess, Ulster and Sullivan counties (i.e. the aforementioned area code 845), and thus do not get local television (via cable) from Albany or Binghamton TV stations. Many upstate residents note that the state capital of Albany, being mostly dominated by New York City-area politicians, has more in common with downstate than upstate, and imply that everything in between, including the Hudson Valley region and occasionally the Catskill Mountains, can be considered downstate. Geographically, Albany is also the point where the New York Thruway turns to the west and drivers continuing north on I-87 cash out of the toll system and continue on the toll-free Adirondack Northway. Columnist Liz Benjamin (a Hudson Valley native who self-identifies as an upstater) is quoted as saying "I know there’s considerable disagreement over where, exactly, the upstate/downstate divide is located. Some would say it starts at the Capital Region and what’s to the south is more in line with NYC than Western New York and the North Country." For example, Buffalo News columnist Donn Esmonde (in defending Caroline Kennedy's abortive Senate run) criticized Senator Kirsten Gillibrand's upstate credentials by saying "In the end... e get a 'upstate' senator whose Hudson Valley base is equidistant from New York City and Albany, the state’s power centers." Charles Schumer once famously stated "To me, the West begins across the Hudson River." Politics aside, the term "Upstate" is occasionally used (somewhat ambiguously) to refer to Northern New York, including the Adirondack Mountains, as opposed to other areas of traditional Upstate such as Western New York and Central New York. In this sense, anything north of the Mohawk River can be considered "Upstate".

In some parts of the New York metropolitan area the term "Upperstate New York" is used to differentiate the close-in suburbs from the northern and western parts of the state. In some regions the term "Upperstate" refers to the suburbs and "Upstate" refers to the northern and western regions, and in other regions the terms are reversed.

Residents of Upstate New York often prefer to identify with a more specific region, such as "Western New York" or "Central New York". Some residents of Western New York object to their area being called "Upstate", though a number of businesses and institutions in the area have "Upstate" as part of their name.

New York City is dependent on upstate for a variety of services; it is the source of the city's water supply via the Delaware Aqueduct and the Catskill Aqueduct; much of the city's electric power supply comes from state owned hydroelectric plants at Niagara Falls and the St. Lawrence River such as the Robert Moses power station; and most of the state's prisons are upstate; hence the popular term "being sent up the river" (however, the term originally referred to Sing Sing, which is "up the Hudson River" from New York City, but being in Ossining in Westchester County is still in the "downstate" region). Conversely, the operation of state facilities providing these services is an important part of the upstate economy.

Long Island is never considered upstate, as each of its four counties extends farther south than Manhattan, two are part of New York City, and the island has no direct physical (land or bridge) connection to any part of New York north of New York City.

Institutions with "Upstate" as part of their name include the State University of New York Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, the Upstate New York Chapter of the Arthritis Foundation serving 31 of New York's 62 counties, and the VA Healthcare Network Upstate New York, which includes all of New York State northward and westward from Kingston, New York in Ulster County. Other organizations in New York with "Upstate" in their name include the Upstate Collegiate Athletic Association, the Upstate Correctional Facility, the Upstate New York Club Hockey League, the Upstate New York Synod, and the Upstate Citizens for Equality.

The term Upstate America is also occasionally used instead of "Upstate New York" to emphasize the differences between upstate and downstate New York, sometimes in comparison to other similar states in the northern tier of the United States.