Anonymous wrote:As a native on NYC, yes, it’s anything north of Westchester County.

I include Westchester.

Basically, everything except NYC and Long Island.

I'm from Dutchess County - it starts either with Dutchess or central Dutchess - Poughkeepsie and goes due north up the river. It is a city centric concept of what is "up state" from the city. I have never had someone from more northern parts of NY argue about those areas being upstate - its usually people from the city or LI who have opinions on that. Basically its where it starts to get rural and then goes all the way up to canada

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Anonymous wrote:My dad is from Binghamton. He has always told people he is from “upstate NY.”

As he was. Johnson City.

Oh, I have an aunt, uncle, and cousins who live in Johnson City! Hi!

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Anonymous wrote:Anything outside NYC. Those from Long Island will not say upstate New York, fyi

Yes we do, but it’s north of Westchester. We have no natural sense of the geography of anything north of there. Except for college, why would we go?

+1. Always say I'm from New York, and then when asked I specify, "Long Island". Upstate for us was north of Westchester. And we only went to visit colleges.

Anonymous wrote:As a native on NYC, yes, it’s anything north of Westchester County.

This is the right answer. I might say anything north of Westchester or Rockland counties.

The exceptions to "upstate New York" are if you're from one of the five boroughs, Long Island, Western NY/Buffalo, or Westchester/Rockland.

Type in "Upstate NY" in Google Maps and it includes everything north of Duchess, Ulster, and Sullivan counties. Doesn't feel right to me, IMHO. If someone from the City was going to Woodstock for the weekend, they would tell their friends they are "going Upstate."

OP, fellow southerner here. Thanks for asking this question--very helpful responses!

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Anonymous wrote:I grew up in Syracuse which is technically central NY. When you say you grew up in NY, people usually think NYC, it's just easier to say upstate NY to indicate not NYC.

+1, Rochester native and I always said I was from upstate NY so that people wouldn’t assume I was from the NYC area. Western NY also works but I always went with upstate. If people asked where upstate, then I’d say western NY.

+1. Also a Rochester native and I do the same, haha. IME "western NY" is more of a regional term that doesn't necessarily mean anything to someone from CA, for example.

Anonymous wrote:My dad is from Binghamton. He has always told people he is from “upstate NY.”

As he was. Johnson City.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a native on NYC, yes, it’s anything north of Westchester County.

This is the only correct answer.

Wrong. Other people from Nys laugh when we say we are going ‘upstate’ to Woodstock. That’s downstate to most of NY

Yeah, all 50 of you.

I think of it as everything outside of the city, Long Island, and the commuter suburbs of Westchester and Rockland County.

My dad is from Binghamton. He has always told people he is from “upstate NY.”

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in Syracuse which is technically central NY. When you say you grew up in NY, people usually think NYC, it's just easier to say upstate NY to indicate not NYC.

So would a town 50 miles outside of NYC be considered upstate NY?

Probably, if it’s not on Long Island.

People from Long Island don't admit they are from New York (state or city). Ask them where they are from and it is always "The Island" or "Long Island".

I've never heard this at all and I'm from NYC and spent considerable time on Long Island. You think Long Islanders dont consider themselves New Yorkers? Bizarre take. If anything they could be accused of posturing they're from the city but this comment and the one saying LI is part of "upstate NY" are wildly off.