We looked at hundreds of thousands of Airbnb listings to calculate how the heart describes itself
We first noticed this tour de force of data found when we were looking for a cheap room en route to life change Ashfall Fossil Beds in eastern Nebraska. It was as if every other listing on Airbnb said something like “good-natured Midwestern hospitality” or “laden with Midwestern charm.”
Nothing gets a data journalist’s heart racing like the word “Midwest.” Drawing the precise boundaries of America’s most vague region has long been a rite of passage for our species, from Soo Oh at Vox at David Montgomery at City Lab at Walt Hickey at FiveThirtyEight.
We understand why: it is a concrete geographical construction linked to an ephemeral cultural construction.
In Airbnb, we had stumbled upon an ideal dataset to draw this elusive boundary between culture and geography. More importantly, once we’ve reviewed over half a million Airbnb listings and created a database powerful enough to answer “Where’s the Midwest?” we could use it to answer a much harder question: “What is the Midwest?” What are the cultural touchstones that set it apart from the rest of the country? And why is the first of those touchstones a toothy, wide-eyed game fish?
First, we had to – once and for all – define the Midwest.
Airbnb makes it easy. There are 12 states with listings that mention “Midwest” to an unusual degree. They outline a relatively large region ranging from the Appalachian foothills to the fertile central Great Plains.
By this measure, Iowa is the most Midwestern state in the union, followed by Indiana and Wisconsin. Rural people tended to be more likely to describe themselves as Midwestern than their urban cousins, so states with large urban populations, such as Illinois, Michigan, and Ohio, slid further into the ranking. (Most mentions of the Midwest outside of the 12 major states are to the effect of “I’m from the Midwest” or in reference to a local street or landmark with Midwest in the name.)
Detailed maps indicate that residents of the hilly Appalachian strip of southeast Ohio and the arid western steppe of Nebraska and the Dakotas might not consider themselves Midwestern like their Corn Belt friends, but Airbnb does not have enough data to rule them out categorically. Of all the non-Midwestern states, Oklahoma is the closest to making the cut (even if we exclude mentions of Midwest City, a suburb of Oklahoma City). But that’s only half of Midwestern Ohio or South Dakota, and less than one-fifth of Midwestern Iowa.
With the outline of the Midwest firmly drawn, we can calculate the most Midwestern cultural artifacts. To meet our criteria, a word had to be mentioned in at least 300 ads. We only counted each word once per list, grouped different word forms, and removed place names and brand names (sorry Hy Vee, you would have been at the top of the list!). We removed anything that got more than a third of its registrations nationwide from a single state, because those are local, not regional, touchstones.
By that measure, the most Midwestern thing on Earth is the walleye, a drab but delicious freshwater fish whose primitive bulging eyes and matted teeth would be right at home in one of those fossil beds of the Nebraska. It’s the state fish of South Dakota and Minnesota, and at least six Midwestern cities have claimed to be the walleye capital of the world.
Marianne Huskey Fechter is one of the most accomplished women in professional fishing history, with an Angler of the Year award and a major tournament win under her belt. She built it all over long hours on the water – and shiploads of walleye, which she describes as “beautiful fish”.
“They are just amazing,” Fechter said. Although amazing can also mean surprisingly reluctant to bite.
“That’s why those of us who do love it so much,” she said. “It’s one of those things that you’re always trying to figure out and, you know, in the back of your mind, you’re never going to. It’s a never-ending challenge.
Fechter speaks of the fish in almost mystical terms, describing the “walleye nostalgia” that has hooked generations of Midwesters. “Once you’ve caught your first walleye,” she says, “you’ll understand.
“My life story is just chasing walleye,” said the Minnesota guide, tournament angler and golden whisperer Tony Rock. “I grew up in a fishing family. I mean, I was literally bottle fed in a boat while my dad was fishing for walleye.
“It’s really ingrained in a lot of people in the Midwest,” Roach said.
In much of the region, fish are a constant presence. Walleye hide in tens of thousands of Midwestern lakes, and unlike warm water fish like bass, they can be easily caught even in the depths of a Midwestern winter.
Anyone can catch a walleye with a few dollars worth of basic gear, a little practice and a little luck, Roach said, though that’s not stopping some Midwesterners from losing the equivalent of several years of salary on boats, McMansion Quality Ice Fishing Trailers and sophisticated electronics designed to better target finicky fish.
“It’s a big part of the economy,” Roach said.
Two of the next three most typical Midwestern words, “Heartland” and “Lutheran,” seem like gimmicks. One is synonymous with the Midwest, and in the minds of many, the other might as well be. “Conservatory” and “orchestra” seem strange, but google trends confirms that both are exceptionally popular in Midwestern states. If you think you know why, let us know!
Three others are probably artifacts of the kind of property- and hospitality-focused Midwestern English you’d expect from an Airbnb listing — “rehabbed” for renovated, “black roof” for asphalt, and “supper” for having dinner.
Several other freshwater fish join walleye on the list, including bluegill and smallmouth and largemouth bass varieties. All three are abundant in much of the country, but bluegill is often called sea bream in the south. And the Midwest is the largest area where native ranges from big mouth and small mouth bass overlap, which means that Airbnb hosts there need to identify species more, rather than just calling them “bass.” Anglers in other parts of the country may also prefer to target trout or saltwater fish.
“Amish” might come as a surprise, given their deep roots in Pennsylvania, but the Midwestern states of Indiana and Ohio have some of the largest Amish populations in the country, with smaller groups of Anabaptists from the old school spread throughout the Midwestern agricultural belt.
Similarly “glacial” may remind you of icy mountain passes, not the relatively flat American Midwest, until you realize the Midwest got much of that flatness from the millennial Wisconsin glaciation, which ground down its topography, enriched its soil and filled the Great Lakes.
It may also explain another of the most Midwestern things on the planet: snowmobiles.
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