upstate

1) A region north of New York City's suburbs. Essentially an extension of the Midwestern rustbelt, not that there's anything wrong with that other than the fact they're not exactly New York State's greatest economic asset. Its people have what is undoubtedly the world's worst inferiority complex; they hate being overshadowed by the City almost to the point of irrational hatred, when they might not have necessarily been there. Lovely places to observe nature like the Adirondacks and the Finger Lakes, but there aren't that many prominent resorts to enjoy it from. Most of the largish cities like Buffalo and Rochester are big manufacturing centers, but they're in relatively bad shape and need to be cleaned up (garbagewise and crimewise), revitalized, and repopulated. 2) The city and suburbs of Chicago, Illinois (aka Chicagoland). In this case, upstate is the heavily-urbanized part of the state, while downstate is more rural and dotted with smaller cities and towns. 3) Otherwise, the northern part of any socially or demographically divided state (Northern California, Seattle-area Washington, northern Texas, Florida panhandle, etc.)