Northwestern United States

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Regional definitions vary from source to source. The states shown in dark red are usually included, while all or portions of the striped states may or may not be considered part of the Northwestern United States.

Northwestern United States comprises the northwestern states up to the western Great Plains regions of the United States, and consistently includes the states of Oregon and Washington, to which Idaho, Montana, Southeast Alaska, and Wyoming are sometimes added. Occasionally parts of Northern California are included in the Northwest.

"The Northwest" sometimes refers only to western Oregon and Washington, including the coast as well as the populated Willamette Valley and Puget Sound areas, but leaving out the area east of the Cascade mountains.

In the United States, the term " the Pacific Northwest" (abbreviated PNW or PacNW) is often used to mean Oregon and Washington and sometimes Idaho and northern California.[1] Internationally, however, this term includes parts of Canada - see Pacific Northwest.

Like the Southwestern United States, the idea of what comprised the Northwest was pushed farther west over time. The original Northwest (usually termed the "Old Northwest") comprised the Northwest Territory and gradually pushed across the Midwest to its current definition. The current area can generally be understood to include the old Oregon Territory (created in 1848 - Oregon, Washington, Idaho and areas in Montana west of the Continental Divide).^{[citation needed]}

The Eastern Idaho region is sometimes excluded because of its cultural and economic ties to the Rocky Mountain region, particularly Utah.^{[citation needed]} The region is culturally influenced by the upper Midwest.^{[citation needed]}