What does "upstate" mean in the US?

makingStuffForFun@lemmy.ml to Asklemmy@lemmy.ml – 161 points –

I hear it in movies so the time. We're going upstate. I went upstate. Etc

I never hear downstate, or similar. Does it just mean going north?

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It's a New York thing to refer to the rural Northern and Western parts of New York State that are not New York City. No one (or at least very very few) outside of New York State uses it to refer to any other place.

Really? Well, I'm from Utica and I never heard anyone use the term "upstate."

Not in Utica, no. It’s all Albany expression.

Not in Utica, no; it’s an Albany expression.

New York the state or NYC?

Edit: I am terribly sorry for not knwing all citiies and to what state and where they belong on the us map as someone not from North America... πŸ™„

"The Northern and Western parts of New York State that are not new York City" how is there any confusion?

It’s a New York thing

New York the state or NYC?

In my experience people in the Northeast US pretty much never refer to New York City as just 'New York'. New York will mean the state, they will say 'the city' or 'NYC' to differentiate from the state. Or they will say upstate to mean the rest of the state outside of NYC metro area.

I feel like the answer to this lies within the word itself