10 of the biggest cultural differences between the Midwest and the East Coast, from someone who's lived in both regions

New food trends, health crazes, and other cultural innovations tend to be popular in East Coast cities but can also spread to largely non-urban areas like the Catskills, Vermont, and Cape Cod, where many city-dwellers go to blow off steam.

In my experience, this is not the case in the Midwest, where tried-and-true pastimes have persisted across generations. Although people in cities like Chicago, Madison, and more recently Detroit tend to be trendier than other Midwesterners, they are happy to saddle up with a satisfying cheeseburger and a local beer instead of whatever health food happens to be in vogue.

New Yorkers are often stereotyped as being self-important and acting like the world revolves around them.

While it wouldn't be fair to describe all New Yorkers this way, I have noticed that people from New York City and Washington, DC especially often have worldviews that center on events going on in their cities, perhaps understandably so.

In the Midwest though, people are much more modest about their position in the world, and are happy to keep it that way. Although Chicago obviously dominates the region politically and economically, this rarely leads its residents to behave as if they are superior to people in other places.

Although you might exchange a few words with someone in passing here and there on the East Coast, casually striking up a conversation to bond with a stranger you are sharing a moment with is something that is more likely to happen in the Midwest.

East Coasters are not necessarily more standoffish, but tend to socialize in the same familiar groups more. Midwesterners on the other hand are more eager to meet someone new, be it over a drink, while shopping in a grocery store, or even while sharing a stressful train ride back from work.

The East Coast tends to have more transient, short-term residents than the Midwest, and most of these newcomers are there to make it big — frequently either in finance, in media, in business, or in government. This means that people tend to be more competitive in their professional and personal lives.

While the Midwest's cities host go-getters of their own, most of them are from other parts of the region, resulting in attitudes that are slightly less cutthroat than those of some people on the East Coast.

Although the East Coast's competitiveness is largely absent from the Midwest, this doesn't mean that people in the Midwest don't work hard.

But while people on the East Coast often equate hard work with advancing their careers, Midwesterners tend to value hard work itself because it makes them feel rooted, honest, and productive.

In short, while East Coasters prioritize where they are going in their work lives, Midwesterners are more focused on where they are right now.

Although I had heard about "Midwest nice" even before I arrived, I never really appreciated how real it is until I spent time in the region. From Minnesota's folksy charm, to Missouri's southern-tinged hospitality, to Chicago's unpretentious openness, the Midwest truly embodies basic human kindness in a more direct way than the East Coast does. People there told me this is because of the Midwest's infamously cold winters — the more people you are friendly with, the warmer you'll be.

The two main urban centers of the Midwest and East Coast, Chicago and New York respectively, both have a lifetime's worth of entertainment, restaurants, bars, and art galleries.

Due to its larger size and density, New York might have slightly more to offer, but Chicago has just as much diversity in terms of things to do and enjoy.

The difference between the cities though is that while New York wears its heart on its sleeve, Chicago's array of attractions is more understated, and by and large doesn't have the glitz and glamour of New York. However, this also makes the city much easier on the pocketbook.

Every city on the East Coast has a long history of welcoming immigrants from all over the world, and over the centuries, has created a melting pot where cultures have often blended together.

This happens in the Midwest, but to a much lesser extent — immigrant communities in cities like Chicago remain mostly socially segregated from one another, and have tended to form more rigid ethnic neighborhoods. This is also true in the rural areas, where Germans, Scandinavians, and other groups have settled in various regions of the Midwest and developed distinct local cultures of their own.

This difference has less to do with Midwestern society itself, and more to do with the histories of the Midwest's urban areas and with patterns of rural settlement.

Of course, people in both regions value friendships, family, and maintaining healthy personal lives.

But while the East Coast tends to have a work-life balance that tips in favor of people's careers, studies, or professional progress, Midwesterners tend to view those around them as being more important. In this sense, people in the Midwest have a slightly more traditional approach to their lives, whereas East Coasters' views of their own fulfillment are constantly evolving.