The Midwest is America’s industrial and manufacturing heartland

Families find a high quality of life, if not the glamor of the coasts

Today's expression: Fall on hard times
Explore more: Lesson #694
July 22, 2024:

The Midwest may not have the diversity of the east or the spectacular outdoors of the west coast. But it offers a good quality of life at reasonable cost, with a diversified economy and plenty to do inside and outside.

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Today, we’re talking about what it’s like to live in the Midwest

Lesson summary

Hi there everyone, I’m Jeff and you are listening to Plain English. Plain English is a great way to upgrade your English. With Plain English stories, you’ll get your mind thinking in English. You’ll learn new words, new ways of expressing ideas. And you might—might!—have a little fun at the same time.

This summer, we’re talking about life in the U.S. And we’re doing five episodes about different places to live, what it’s like to live in different parts of the United States. And today we’re looking at the Midwest.

Picture a map of the United States in your mind. The Midwest is a region about a third of the way from the east coast to the west coast, and toward the north. Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, and Missouri are Midwestern states.

In the second half of today’s lesson, I’ll show you what it means to “fall on hard times.” This is lesson number 694 of Plain English, so that means you can find the full lesson at PlainEnglish.com/694. That is thanks to JR, the producer.

The Midwest: America’s agriculture and manufacturing powerhouse

Two industries have historically dominated the Midwest region : agriculture and manufacturing . The Midwest is considered the nation’s “ breadbasket .” The soil has always been fertile : the predominant crops are corn and soybeans . And then there are the animals that eat those crops. The Midwest, especially the western part , has cattle , hog , and dairy farms.

The other notable industry is manufacturing . As the U.S. grew in population in the Twentieth Century, the products the country consumed were made in the Midwest. Cars, glass, steel , paint, rubber tires , chemicals , food processing , appliances , farm equipment , parts and supplies —the Midwest did it all.

You probably recognize a lot of brands from the region. Whirlpool ( appliances ) is headquartered in Iowa. Goodyear Tires in Akron, Ohio. Ford, GM, Chrysler in Detroit. Harley-Davidson motorcycles in Milwaukee. Kellogg’s cereal in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Proctor & Gamble in Cincinnati. John Deere, makers of farm equipment, in Illinois. Beer, too: Budweiser is from St. Louis and Miller is from Milwaukee.

You can say that the Midwest powered the nation’s economic transformation after World War II. But the Midwest fell on hard times as the economy changed and manufacturing jobs moved to Asia. Many places experienced years of painful decline : Detroit and Cleveland, especially , were seen as failed cities, hollowed-out places that had failed to adapt to a new economy. Rows of vacant homes , crumbling streets , high crime , drugs, terrible public service, bad schools, no jobs: this is the image of the Midwest from the 1990s, 2000s, even the 2010s.

The Midwest today is better. You can still see the scars from the industrial decline . But the cities of the Midwest are diversifying and developing new strengths in health care, services, robotics , and research . Even manufacturing is making a comeback : high-tech, high-skill manufacturing is strong and the region’s unemployment rate is low.

So what is it like to live in the Midwest? I would sum it up this way: high quality of life. The costs are much lower than they are on the coasts . There are good parks, bike trails , and outdoor activities . Michigan and Wisconsin have beautiful coastline on the Great Lakes. Most cities have strong cultural institutions , too: art museums, orchestras , concert halls , theaters, zoos, and botanic gardens .

The Midwest has a great musical history. Rock and roll and Motown emerged from the Midwest. Jazz and blues music has a rich history in Chicago, St. Louis, and Kansas City.

People are friendly in the Midwest. Even if they now live in bigger cities, a lot of people grew up in smaller towns and cities and they retain that small-town hospitality . The politics are more conservative and the people are more religious in the Midwest than they are on the coasts.

One criticism of Midwestern life is that cities shut down at night: people go home to their families after work. That’s not always true—some Midwestern cities have good downtown environments , with things to do seven days a week. But if you’re looking for round-the-clock activity like you find in New York or San Francisco, that eighteen-hour-a-day energy…you’re not going to find that in any Midwestern city other than Chicago.

There are a lot of remote , small towns in the Midwest. It’s not uncommon to see towns of 5,000 people or fewer —just a single stoplight in town. Some people like living in remote areas , but it can be hard for young people.

Let’s talk weather. Upper Midwest states like Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan can get a lot of snow in the winter. Missouri, and the southern parts of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois: they get really hot and humid in the summer. So to live in this region, you have to be comfortable with hot, humid summers and cold, snowy winters .

If you like car trips, there are great things to do in the Midwest. Cedar Point, one of the biggest theme parks in the country, is in Ohio. The Wisconsin Dells has the most waterparks of any resort area in the country. The Gateway Arch, which commemorates expansion into the west, is in St. Louis. Springfield, Illinois, has museums and historical sites related to Abraham Lincoln, who was president during the Civil War.

If you like golf, fishing, hunting , or boating, you’ll be happy in the Midwest. Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri and Lake Geneva in Wisconsin are just two examples of popular lakes for fishing, boating, and recreation . But if you’re looking to hike a mountain, look elsewhere . The Midwest is really flat. You can ski, but on hills , not mountains. Cross-country skiing or snowmobiling might be better in the winter.

The Midwest is home to huge public universities. Most Midwestern states have one or two big public universities, with upwards of 40-, 50-, sometimes 60,000 students each. These universities are a good value : they’re high-quality schools at an affordable rate for state residents.

The one place I haven’t talked much about yet is the biggest city in the Midwest, Chicago . In many ways, Chicago is the Midwestern version of big cities on the coasts. It has great museums, history, parks, public transit , sports, great international food, and cultural institutions, but at a much more affordable cost. It’s much easier to get those things, to have that city life, in Chicago than it is in New York, for example.

Chicago is one of the best places to live if you have to get around the country. Because of its central location , it’s easy to get from Chicago to where you need to go. There are short, direct flights to almost anywhere in the country . And if you want to go further, Chicago’s airport is a great place to start, too. You can fly direct from Chicago to all inhabited continents .

Chicago has always had a diversified economy . And while it did suffer from the exodus of manufacturing jobs, other industries like finance and media picked up the slack . If you want to learn more about Chicago, we did two episodes on the city—numbers 499 and 500 .

Jeff’s take

Maybe my bias was showing, but this is the region I feel most connected to . I started my working career in Ohio. I worked many years in Chicago. And a lot of the work I did was in the Midwest—certainly not all of it, but a lot of it was.

And for me, the big thing is livability . I also lived in New York and I really liked it. But Chicago and the Midwest—you can build a good quality life there. Compared to the coasts, you can live in a bigger house, save more money, and still have access to good city amenities . People are friendly; there are good jobs, in many places. And with the money you save, you can visit New York or Boston.

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Expression: Fall on hard times