 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Northwestern United States" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(May 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
TheNorthwestern United States, also known as theAmerican Northwest or simplythe Northwest, is an informal geographic region of theUnited States. The region consistently includes the states ofOregon,Washington,Idaho,Montana andWyoming. Some sources includeSoutheast Alaska in the Northwest. The related but distinct termPacific Northwest generally excludes areas from theRockies eastward, whereas the term "Inland Northwest" excludes areas west of theCascades.
The Northwestern United States is a subportion of theWestern United States (which is, itself, even more ambiguous). In contrast, states included in the neighboring regions (Southwestern United States andGreat Plains) and Utah are not simultaneously considered part of both regions.
Like the southwestern United States, the Northwest definition has moved westward over time. The current area includes the oldOregon Territory (created in 1848–Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and areas in Montana west of theContinental Divide).[1] The region is similar toFederal Region X, which comprises Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Alaska.
It is home to about 14.3 million people (as of 2016). Some of the fastest growing cities in this region and in the nation includeSeattle,Spokane,Bellevue,Tacoma,Kennewick,Pasco,Yakima,Portland,Eugene,Salem,Boise,Idaho Falls,Missoula,Bozeman, andBillings.
As theUnited States' westward expansion, the country'swestern border also shifted westward, and consequently, so did the location of the Northwestern andSouthwestern United States. In the early years of the United States,newly colonized lands lying immediately west of the Allegheny Mountains weredetached from Virginia and given the nameNorthwest Territory. During the decades that followed, the Northwest Territory covered much of theGreat Lakes region east of the Mississippi River.
As of 2016, the Northwestern states have a cumulative population of 14,297,316, withOregon andWashington accounting for 77% of the entire five-state region's population. As of 2016, there are 25metropolitan statistical areas in the Northwest with populations of 100,000 or more, none of which are inWyoming. Since adjacent metropolitan areas often function as one combined agglomeration, theU.S. Census Bureau additionally defines ninecombined statistical areas across the Northwest, eight of which having populations of 100,000 or more.
| Rank | Combined or Metropolitan Statistical Area | State(s) | Population (2020) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seattle–Tacoma | Washington | 4,018,598 |
| 2 | Portland–Vancouver–Salem | Oregon Washington | 2,510,259 |
| 3 | Boise–Mountain Home–Ontario | Idaho Oregon | 770,353 |
| 4 | Spokane–Spokane Valley–Coeur d'Alene | Washington Idaho | 574,585 |
| 5 | Eugene-Springfield | Oregon | 382,986 |
| 6 | Medford–Grants Pass | Oregon | 221,844 |
| 7 | Kennewick–Pasco–Richland-Walla Walla | Washington | 303,501 |
| 8 | Yakima | Washington | 251,879 |
| 9 | Idaho Falls–Rexburg–Blackfoot | Idaho | 155,361 |
| 10 | Bellingham | Washington | 131,016 |
(Green indicatesPopulist Party affiliation, peach indicates theRepublican Party, blue indicates theDemocratic Party, and plum indicates theBull Moose Party.)
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
