Here is a list of the different regions of Indiana:
- Northwestern Industrial Base – This is a region that has long been an industrial base, with steel mills and other industries by Lake Michigan, as well as a host of other manufacturing firms. Although we do have manufacturing facilities throughout the state, there seems to be a larger base in this area. You could just as easily call this area the Northwestern Urban Belt.
- Northeast Lakes Region – There seems to be a number of smaller, glacier-formed lakes in this area that are used for fishing, skiing, and other recreational uses.
- Northern Till Plains – This a part of the Midwest farmland that is some of the most fertile in the country. It is very flat and is used mostly for growing of corn and soybean, as well as grazing land for cattle. Keep in mind that the boundary for this area is not that defined, as there are large amounts of land in the Northwestern Industrial Base, south of Crown Point, and around Porter, LaPorte, St. Joseph, and Elkhart counties that are still used for farming purposes. Also, the flat land inside of the Northeast Lakes Region between the lakes could also be considered part of the Northern Till Plain.
- Fort Wayne Metro Area – This region is highly urbanized and built up with the buildings, businesses, industries, and housing communities that are part of the Fort Wayne area.
- Indianapolis Metro Area – This region is also highly urbanized and built up with the buildings, businesses, industries, and housing communities that are a part of the Indianapolis area. Keep in mind that in the outer areas of the Indy metro area there is still much farmland interspersed with developments, which could be considered part of the Till Plains surrounding this region.
- Wabash Valley – This is a corridor surrounding the Wabash Valley that juts into the middle of the Northern Till Plains. It tends to be somewhat hilly, although some of it is still used for farming.
- Southwestern Till Plains – This is just another part of Indiana’s vast quantities of tilling plains, just in another part of the state. We can use U.S. route 36 as the dividing line between the Northern Till Plains and the Southwestern Till Plains. Some areas of this region can roll very slightly, but it is mostly flat.
- South-Central Hill Country – This region is a section of beautiful hill country, which includes Brown, Monroe, Lawrence, Jackson, Orange, Washington, Martin, Dubois, Crawford, Harrison, and Perry counties, and such towns and cities as Nashville, Bloomington, Bedford, Paoli, French Lick, Shoals, and English. This region is not farmed very much, that is, brought under the till, and people who live there tend to live more of a rustic type of life, although in some places, like Nashville, we do see some artist colonies.
- Evansville Metro Area – This region, like the Fort Wayne and Indianapolis metro areas, is highly urbanized and developed, with its share of buildings, businesses, industries, and housing communities. There is also still some farmland interspersed with development in some spots, like north of Evansville and south of I-64.
- Southeastern Till Plains – Like the Southwestern Till Plains, this is also just another part of Indiana’s total quantity of tilling plains, just in another part of the state. We can use U.S. route 35 between Muncie and Richmond as a dividing line between the Northern Till Plains and the Southeastern Till Plains.
- Southeastern Hill Country – Like the South-Central Hill Country, is beautiful hill country full of lovely scenery. It is not used very much for farming.
- Louisville Metro Area – Like the other metro areas in our state, it is built up with its share of buildings, businesses, industries, and housing communities. The metro area is part of a larger metro area, most of which exists south of the Ohio River on the Kentucky side.
You will notice that the Ohio Valley area is not included. That is because the hills included with it are included in the South-Central Hill Country, the Southeastern Hill Country, the Wabash Valley area, as well as the Evansville and Louisville metro areas. There is only a small section of it in the Southeastern and Southwestern Till Plains, so it was not included. It could also possibly be an important region in its own right. Also note that there are some other smaller metro areas in the state that are parts of other regions, such as Terre Haute, Lafayette, Kokomo, Columbus, Bloomington, and so forth, that were not considered big enough to make into their own regions.
