How do you define the Southeast?
We here at Dome headquarters have been poring over some tax data this morning as part of a fact-check, and we came across this interesting epistemological problem.
The general consensus of our group of reporters was that it includes the following states:
Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.
We did not include West Virginia, but the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis does in its regional breakdowns. That means a number of other groups, such as the Tax Foundation, also use it.
The U.S. Census Bureau does not define the Southeast.
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Re: The definition of Southeast
Your list of Southeastern states is reasonable. I usually think of the Southeast as the old Confederacy minus Texas. That would exclude Kentucky.
You may want to ask John Shelton Reed (http://www.unc.edu/depts/uncspeak/reed.html), prof. emeritus at UNC-CH. I once heard him lecture on how people define where the South is and who is/isn't a Southerner. Very interesting.