[jimbob45]

People in Oregon and New Hampshire tend not to have very strong affection for their state.

This sounds like the opinion of a European who has never actually lived in the US. People are much more married to their states than it seems that you'd believe.

[danaris]

And even moreso to their cultural regions.

While someone from (say) Connecticut might not think much of moving to Maine, they would probably feel different about moving to Iowa, Washington, or Alabama.

Here's one of the various maps I've seen of US cultural regions: [0]

It seems to be accurate for the areas I know anything about; I can't speak for it in other places.

[0] https://preview.redd.it/ntsqzyp8uq531.png?auto=webp&s=afb643...

[notch656a]

Just bringing your stuff with you from one state to another could make you a felon, making people very locked in from moving across certain states. Someone in Idaho would become a felon for bringing their (Idaho legal) AR-15 into California while the person in California would become a felon for bringing their (California legal) weed plant into Idaho.

A lot of these states have backdoor ways of keeping out culturally incompatible folks from moving state to state by making mere victimless possession of certain items disproportionately linked to certain American cultures into felonies.