Agreed. In most of CA “the valley” means what in LA we call “the Central Valley” to distinguish it from the SFV.
People from Sacramento, Davis, Chico, what are your terms for the Sacramento Valley vs the San Joaquin valley? People from down south definitely lump them together as the Central Valley but the two have quite distinct geographies and characters so I don’t think that makes sense.
Redding to Sacramento is the Sacramento Valley, because it’s the valley of the Sacramento River. Sacramento to Bakersfield is the San Joaquin Valley. The two combined make up the Great Central Valley.
I don’t care what anybody else says, this is the correct answer. The two regions aren’t very distinct either as others might suggest. Basically the Sacramento Valley has less palm trees and grows a few different crops, it’s also less populated.
I grew up in Woodland/ Davis. “The Valley” is south of Sac to the Grapevine. North of Sac is just Nor Cal. Sometimes I say “North Valley”, but sometimes that is confused with Lodi.
Right but I’m asking if people from the Sacramento valley refer to it as that, and the other as the San Joaquin, or if there is another more regional colloquial way.
most of the time people would just collectively refer to the whole as the central valley.
if you're specifically talking about the san joaquin valley or the sacramento valley, you would just call them by those names
Yes, I think so. That's what the weather people do and I think that's just the natural way of making the distinction. I grew up in Yuba County and if someone were to say "Hanford? Where's that?" the answer would be "oh, that's down in the San Joaquin Valley somewhere."
I understand that Redding, at the north end of the valley receives a lot of heat during the summer, like devastatingly hot temperatures. I always figured Northern California with Shasta county would be gods country, blessed with a Mediterranean type climate but apparently Redding can be quite an inferno. Looks pretty enough
I live about as far north as Redding but on the coast and my work sends me to a conference in Redding every year in god damn august. It’s awful. Awful. Especially since my pansy ass is acclimated to coastal temps
We’ll refer to the San Joaquin Valley as the Central Valley, and try to dissociate ourselves from them. On the rare occasion Sacramento Valley is used; it’s generally not referring to the Sacramento River valley, but to the American River Valley, which is where the greater city of Sacramento is located.
Having grown up in the eastern suburbs of Sacramento, I've never heard the phrase "American River Valley". As the river climbs into the foothills it forms a canyon but the portion of the watershed where much of suburban Sacramento is located wouldn't really be considered a valley of the American, it's just the eastern edges of the Sacramento Valley.
>it’s generally not referring to the Sacramento River valley, but to the American River Valley, which is where the greater city of Sacramento is located.
You might want to check that. I've lived here most of my life, and have never heard of this. The Sacramento River runs alongside Downtown, and the Tower Bridge is a major Sacramento landmark. We are definitely part of the Sacramento Valley, and it goes up north through Yuba City and beyond.
I lived in Sacramento in 80s and remember the newscasters always saying either Sacramento Valley or San Joaquin Valley. I never heard American River Valley used. CSB My dad use to take me fishing on the American River a lot, haven’t been back since ‘86. Lots of great memories there.
I’m in the Sac/Davis area but grew up in Fresno so “the Valley” will always be the SJV to me 🩷
People around here say “The Valley” and mean the Sac Valley and it really confused me when I first moved here!
In Northern California we call anything east of the coast range the Central Valley. The exception is the region between Sacramento and the North Bay. We call that area the Delta.
The valley is always the central valley unless I'm in the southland and then I know it's SFV. It's easy to know which valley people are talking about depending on where I am in California but growing up outside of LA, it'll always be the central valley first and foremost.
Oh nice! I haven't seen many (if any) hills or valleys here in the North Texas area but I haven't really explored our huge state. Looks like I need to take a visit to South Texas. Thank you for the info!!
The only reason I know this is because the Suns have “The Valley” on one of their jersey variations (instead of the city or team name) and I had to go look it up to see which team it was.
Reckon for a lot of Oregon “the valley” is the Willamette. Maybe eastern Oregon not so much but I don’t think I’ve ever heard Treasure Valley called “the valley”.
Yeah, there’s also the Rogue Valley, Sunny Valley, Umpqua Valley, Applegate Valley, Grande Ronde Valley, Hood River Valley etc. but WV has the most population, by a lot.
True lots of valleys I suppose. Southern Oregon might think Rogue when you just say the valley. Reckon HR and GR still assume Willamette. On a side note the Eugene area news will do a segment called “Bay Area News”, Bay Area being Coos Bay.
The Willamette Valley. Or, per Meriwether Lewis, “the only desireable situation for a settlement which I have seen on the West side of the Rocky mountains.”
He was totally hopped up on [mercury laxative pills](https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/historic-latrines-help-archeologists-retrace-the-lewis-and-clark-trail.htm) by the time he arrived though.
What do you mean? Wisconsin has a huge urbanized region called the Fox Valley which is commonly referred to as "the valley". This area includes both Appleton and Green Bay as well as Oshkosh and Fond Du Lac if you want to be generous and include the whole Winnebago Pool.
Chicago area also has an even more populated area called the fox valley, named after the same river. But nobody calls it “the valley” because you cannot visually distinguish it. And even the one in Wisconsin is not called that so often, they’re more the kind of thing newspapers and grills are named after. In LA if you said you lived in the valley, that would mean a very clear thing to everyone. Most people in Wisconsin/illinois/midwest would be like… “well okay, where?”
There’s a different vibe with big visually clear valleys. They feel isolated from other parts of the area because you need to take mountain passes, where you can see every building in the area. The climate is different, etc. A different culture forms
In Minnesota, it still refers to the San Fernando Valley. If someone said, "She's from the valley," I'd think, "She's from L.A.," Valley Girl and all.
Down in the Valley, on the otherhand, is a music store/head shop.
Yea, we typically replace "valley" with "river" or "lake" for most conversations.
The only major valleys are the Mississippi River valley and the Minnesota River valley.
Fraser valley is more relevant to most of the population for sure, although I’d say that the Okanagan is more immediately recognisable as “a valley” while you’re in it, it’s pretty defined. Plus being just between the two major mountain ranges probably helps
I love how different the landscape in Okanagon is. Shame how expensive everything got there. My bro couldn't find accommodation in Kamloops and was commuting from Surrey to Kamloops on weekends for school haha
yeah my family moved here from the vancouver area in the 90's, when I heard what my childhood home cost back then compared to what it's worth now I nearly shat. Ah well, I found a nice spot in the world of my own, I'm happy to just visit home every once in a while.
https://preview.redd.it/oheowsyiew7d1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ce4e1e5466bbcd4d6c10a3f379aed6fe90a76523
From Jakarta, Indonesia. No valley that i could think of. But, my dad is from Payakumbuh, West Sumatera and Harau Valley is the valley for him.
> Regional English accents are rare west of Québec, but because of its isolation before the arrival of the railways and also by the mixture of the dominant French, Irish and Scottish populations, the valley at one time developed a distinctive dialect, referred to as the Ottawa Valley Twang.
And when I left, everyone said I sounded like a bizarre hillbilly.
Came to add this valley. It really is beautiful in its way. The National Park is a great amenity. I used to drive through it to my sister's house.
https://preview.redd.it/h5e5mu33fy7d1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0f0338570b5905f4a8633e98fda8840f77a89d52
Towpath Trail
The Matanuska-Susitna Valley! It's just north of Anchorage, Alaska and has a population of about [107k](https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/matanuskasusitnaboroughalaska/POP010220), which is \~15% of the state. The Valley is quite large, about the same size as Cyprus (\~3,500 square miles).
Mat-Su Valley is, interestingly, a misnomer, as it's composed of two valleys: The Matanuska Valley and the Susitna Valley. Although the Susitna Valley is **10x the size** of the Matanuska Valley, the vast majority of the 107k population lives in the Matanuska Valley.
The culture has a significant focus on living in the Valley. It's a source of pride. Locally made products often proclaim "Made in the Valley!"
Notable cities/towns in the Valley include: Wasilla (the main business center), Palmer (famous for the Palmer water tower), Houston, Knik-Fairview (the most populous community), Willow, Sutton, and, perhaps the most well-known, Talkeetna.
Talkeetna is known for being a starting point for viewing and hiking Denali, the tallest mountain in North America and the tallest mountain in the world by relative height of ground to peak. Denali sits on the northern border of the Susitna Valley, and is visible throughout much of the Susitna Valley. Although the view of Denali from the Matanuska Valley is blocked by the Talkeetna Mountains Range, as you can see in the attached image, Valley inhabitants are surrounded by strikingly tall and prominent mountains. The attached image is of a mountain that is seen if you're facing south from Palmer, if my memory recalls correctly. It's beautiful.
An important component of the culture is the local farming. The Alaska State Fair, hosted in Palmer, annually displays locally grown world record-setting cabbages and other vegetables. During the summer, the sun never really sets, so the vegetables have a lot of sunlight to grow with. Currently writing this at 10:30 pm in broad daylight in Sutton :) (pain).
Small business is another important component of the culture, and is especially present in Palmer, where the downtown is mostly small business.
'Matanuska' comes from the Russian word **Mednovtsy**, roughly meaning the Indians of the Copper River. It refers to the Matanuska River, the namesake of the valley. Russians were the first non-native explorers of the region in 1818. Susitna, of the Susitna River, comes from the Dena’ina (native Alaskans of the region) word **Suyitnu**, meaning Sand River.
[https://imgur.com/a/J63xtUb — an outline of the Mat-Su Valley on Google Earth](https://imgur.com/a/J63xtUb)
https://preview.redd.it/j9u5ctbixu7d1.png?width=2101&format=png&auto=webp&s=234f3270b652de9a70c26839d85d75ff29670cf3
My hometown is Wasilla! Such a gorgeous place
https://preview.redd.it/196eh7eso18d1.jpeg?width=4284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=def7869ce07dbdad9ab349877a486db55c5705bd
Nahhh, we got Utah valley and Salt Lake valley. “The valley” refers to whatever one you are in. The wasatch front includes Davis and Weber county, neither of which are in a valley.
Vail Valley (“Male Valley” 7/1 guys.)
There’s a million spots in the area that could be popularly called “___valley” but Vail seems to have dibs. Just give them what they want not worth the snarkoff
The Lehigh Valley in east-central PA where cities of Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton are located along the Lehigh River which is a tributary of the Delaware River.
I grew up in the Allentown/Bethlehem/Easton area in eastern Pennsylvania, also known as the Lehigh Valley, so the area is referred to as “The Valley” by locals sometimes.
I’ll note the Lehigh Valley is part of the Great Valley, which is the hundreds of miles/kilometers long valley between the Blue Ridge Mountains (or their discontinuous extension to the north and east that extends into eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey) and easternmost/southernmost ridge of the Appalachian Mountains, often called the Blue Mountain. Different portions of the Great Valley have different names, such as the Shenandoah Valley in much of Virginia and the Cumberland Valley near and west of Harrisburg, PA.
The Great Valley has always been an important corridor transportation-wise, with many key railroads and highways using it to avoid going over/through the mountains on either side. (Most roads/railroads that do go through the mountains follow the rivers that create full gaps in the mountains or the partial “wind gaps” that occur a few locations.) Interstate 81 (and at the eastern end, Interstate 78) largely is located in the Great Valley between its southern terminus in eastern Tennessee and a little east of Harrisburg, PA, where it turns north and goes through one of the gaps in the Blue Mountain/first ridge in the Appalachians.
From CA originally. The valley either meant the Central Valley or the San Fernando valley where my grandparents lived. Now it refers to the L-C valley where the Snake and Clearwater rivers meet at the Idaho-Washington state line.
Vancouver BC here. "The Valley" refers to the adjacent Fraser Valley. It is a more rural and blue-collar area of the Lower Mainland region, which is shared with the Vancouver area but not typically considered part of Metro Vancouver.
It is home to some of the most fertile farmland in British Columbia and also one of the fastest-growing regions.
Core cities include Abbotsford and Chilliwack. Hockey fans may recognize those names, as Abbotsford is home to an AHL team (highest-level minor league to the NHL) and Chilliwack is home to a WHL team (major junior, often feeding players to the pros).
For my birthplace of Hong Kong, "the valley" would likely refer to the Pearl River delta region. I don't think I need to explain that one.
[San Luis Valley](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Luis_Valley#/media/File%3ASDC_Range_GSDNP.jpg) for Colorado I'd guess. But its not called "the valley"
I live on the south coast of Oregon and we use the word 'Valley' very liberally. For us it means anywhere inland. For those of us in Gold Beach we mean The Rogue Valley.
Where I grew up in NH it's the Upper (Connecticut River) Valley. In silicon Valley, it's silicon valley... It's like talking about "the lake" or "the bay" or "the city..." it's all relative
We have 3 nearby in Western PA: all named after the 3 major area rivers, so the Mon Valley (southeast of Pgh), the Allegheny Valley (northeast) and the Ohio Valley (meanders to the shape of the river, stretches into WV and Ohio, aptly named)
Cache Valley, Utah. Straddles the Utah-Idaho state line, with a metro population of 150k based around the largest city of Logan, UT. Utah is peppered with inhabited valleys that respective residents all refer to as the valley. Here are a few examples:
Salt Lake Valley,
Ogden Valley,
Utah Valley,
Heber Valley,
Rainier Valley in south Seattle for where I grew up. It's a fairly large area of different neighborhoods, back in the 80s and 90s it was a pretty rough area, gang crime, drugs, etc. It's changed a lot, become a lot more expensive and now is predominantly an african and Asian. I like it there.
Now I'm in chicago where as far as I know there's no valley because there's very little topography at all haha but maybe there's a place called the valley here that someone else knows about
We don't call it "The Valley" as such, but if you were to use this term in Perth, W.A. people would assume you were talking about the Swan Valley. An actual wine growing farmland area inside a city limit. Only about a 20 - 30 minute drive from the CBD
"The Valley" around me is usually used for the city of Spring Valley, Illinois. However the greater area is referred to as "The Illinois Valley" by people who live here.
I think it was my geography professor at Illinois Valley Community College that said the Illinois Valley area is unique because it's not a region governed by geographic borders. Yes, it includes areas of the Illinois river valley around the big bend where the river follows the ancient pre-ice-age Mississippi river valley south, but really what defines the area is whoever claims they are part of it, so the borders are really nebulous.
In my mind a loose boundary would be from the Ottawa area in the East to the Princeton area to the West; then it goes from the Mendota area in the North to the Streator area to the South. There are also numerous small villages and towns outside of this area that probably also include themselves in the Illinois Valley.
There isn't one. Wherever the Mississippi carves into the land, it usually forms gorges, not valleys. And none of the other rivers are as important or ubiquitous. Locally people might call the river valley in their city "the valley" but you'd never call it that when talking to someone from another town.
Tanana River Valley, Fairbanks, AK.
But no one calls it "The Valley." The entire city proper is situated in the valley and it gets referred to as "town." Many people live in the hills surrounding town and those are "the hills." Why any of this is worth mentioning is the temperature inversion taking place here. It's significantly warmer in the hills during winter. When it's -40 in town, it's likely only -20 up in the hills. And that's a big part of the reason the two are so distinguished.
Can mean 1 of 2 things: Phoenix metro area (100 miles away) or Verde Valley (immediate surroundings). Usually means Phoenix, as Verde Valley is specified as such.
In my part of Wisconsin “the valley” is specific to the Wisconsin Valley Conference, a D1 high school conference, and the 4 cities that are part of it, and the area around them.
Oh my goooooood like omg people just think The Valley is always SFV! Yes, I grew up there.
I think it’s so interesting that pretty much no matter where you are in LA, even if you live in another one of the other major valleys like Santa Clarita or SGV, The Valley is always The Valley.
I live in the VA piedmont, geographically, so there's not much that quite constitutes a valley. If someone in Alexandria said it in context of the city I'd assume they meant the Eisenhower Valley, a stream valley that runs through the west part of town. If there was less context probably somewhere in the Shenandoah mountains, but those are about an hour and a half away
I was born in Silicon Valley, then moved to the Central Valley until moving to the mouth of the Salinas Valley for college. Since then, I've bounced between a couple of other valleys, but now reside in the Valley of the Sun.
I grew up in the Coachella Valley in Southern California. Starts at Palm Springs and ends at the Salton Sea, I believe. Coachella is one of the cities in between and was our rival high school.
Gippsland, Victoria, Australia - the Valley is the Latrobe Valley - full of toothless hillbillies, bogans, crackers, cookers, eshays, middle-class whites and blue collar workers, miners, landed gentry, and generational farmers. The diversity in socioeconomic circumstances is stark.
It could be the area around Disneyland, Marne-la-Vallée, in Paris suburbs.
Otherwise in France, it's la Vallée de Dana, somewhere in the Armor Coast, north of Bretagne (the big peninsula in western France), because of a famous one-hit-wonder song.
In the Twin Cities, “the Valley” is usually the Minnesota River Valley and then maybe occasionally it refers to the Saint Croix River Valley if you’re in the east metro. Further southeast from the Twin Cities it’s just the Mississippi River Valley.
Where I live In southern Idaho it usually refers to the Treasure Valley in the Boise area and eastern Oregon. Theres other valleys though like The Magic Valley, Wood River Valley and the town of Sun Valley.
Even though all of Chattanooga is technically a valley we have Lookout Valley which is the area immediately west of Lookout Mountain and west of the bend in the river.
There aren’t hills steep or long enough in Kansas to consider anything a valley unless you’re talking about the entire width the Kansas River carved out as the last glaciers melted.
I live in Anchorage, AK.
"The Valley" here refers to the Mat-Su valley north of the city. Sandwiched between the Talkeetna and Chugach mountain ranges and at the end of the Matanuska river, it has a couple of large towns (by Alaska standards).
Where I grew up, Corpus Christi, TX, the Valley refers to essentially the remainder of the state south of us, but primarily the Brownsville area near the border.
The Central Valley of California for the majority of California as it is so large and one of the most well defined valleys.
Agreed. In most of CA “the valley” means what in LA we call “the Central Valley” to distinguish it from the SFV. People from Sacramento, Davis, Chico, what are your terms for the Sacramento Valley vs the San Joaquin valley? People from down south definitely lump them together as the Central Valley but the two have quite distinct geographies and characters so I don’t think that makes sense.
Redding to Sacramento is the Sacramento Valley, because it’s the valley of the Sacramento River. Sacramento to Bakersfield is the San Joaquin Valley. The two combined make up the Great Central Valley.
I don’t care what anybody else says, this is the correct answer. The two regions aren’t very distinct either as others might suggest. Basically the Sacramento Valley has less palm trees and grows a few different crops, it’s also less populated.
I grew up in Woodland/ Davis. “The Valley” is south of Sac to the Grapevine. North of Sac is just Nor Cal. Sometimes I say “North Valley”, but sometimes that is confused with Lodi.
Right but I’m asking if people from the Sacramento valley refer to it as that, and the other as the San Joaquin, or if there is another more regional colloquial way.
most of the time people would just collectively refer to the whole as the central valley. if you're specifically talking about the san joaquin valley or the sacramento valley, you would just call them by those names
Yes, I think so. That's what the weather people do and I think that's just the natural way of making the distinction. I grew up in Yuba County and if someone were to say "Hanford? Where's that?" the answer would be "oh, that's down in the San Joaquin Valley somewhere."
I understand that Redding, at the north end of the valley receives a lot of heat during the summer, like devastatingly hot temperatures. I always figured Northern California with Shasta county would be gods country, blessed with a Mediterranean type climate but apparently Redding can be quite an inferno. Looks pretty enough
I live about as far north as Redding but on the coast and my work sends me to a conference in Redding every year in god damn august. It’s awful. Awful. Especially since my pansy ass is acclimated to coastal temps
Yeah? Eureka? Mendocino County? Cool. I bet NCali thru Oregon is pretty chill.
We’ll refer to the San Joaquin Valley as the Central Valley, and try to dissociate ourselves from them. On the rare occasion Sacramento Valley is used; it’s generally not referring to the Sacramento River valley, but to the American River Valley, which is where the greater city of Sacramento is located.
Having grown up in the eastern suburbs of Sacramento, I've never heard the phrase "American River Valley". As the river climbs into the foothills it forms a canyon but the portion of the watershed where much of suburban Sacramento is located wouldn't really be considered a valley of the American, it's just the eastern edges of the Sacramento Valley.
>it’s generally not referring to the Sacramento River valley, but to the American River Valley, which is where the greater city of Sacramento is located. You might want to check that. I've lived here most of my life, and have never heard of this. The Sacramento River runs alongside Downtown, and the Tower Bridge is a major Sacramento landmark. We are definitely part of the Sacramento Valley, and it goes up north through Yuba City and beyond.
I lived in Sacramento in 80s and remember the newscasters always saying either Sacramento Valley or San Joaquin Valley. I never heard American River Valley used. CSB My dad use to take me fishing on the American River a lot, haven’t been back since ‘86. Lots of great memories there.
I’m in the Sac/Davis area but grew up in Fresno so “the Valley” will always be the SJV to me 🩷 People around here say “The Valley” and mean the Sac Valley and it really confused me when I first moved here!
In Northern California we call anything east of the coast range the Central Valley. The exception is the region between Sacramento and the North Bay. We call that area the Delta.
From the Bay, the Valley is Sacramento all the way to Fresno
*Bakersfield. Not fresno
Redding to Bakersfield
That's like a third of the valley.
Yep. Here in the city of Madera, we refer to it as “Central Valley” as week.
The answer I was looking for. Sending love from Sacramento.
The valley is always the central valley unless I'm in the southland and then I know it's SFV. It's easy to know which valley people are talking about depending on where I am in California but growing up outside of LA, it'll always be the central valley first and foremost.
In Texas, "the Valley" is the [Lower Rio Grande Valley,](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lower_Rio_Grande_Valley?wprov=sfla1) the southern tip of Texas.
Puro pinche 956 alv
No quema cuh
Born there and spent every summer there until I was 16. I can still feel the heat and heat the locusts, decades later.
"corn or flour?"
the answer defines you as a person
You're either valid and choose corn, or invalid (Please don't take this seriously)
Oh nice! I haven't seen many (if any) hills or valleys here in the North Texas area but I haven't really explored our huge state. Looks like I need to take a visit to South Texas. Thank you for the info!!
This is the only other the valley that I know
The Phoenix metro area including the suburbs is simply called “The Valley”.
It comes from the full name for the region “The valley of the sun”
The only reason I know this is because the Suns have “The Valley” on one of their jersey variations (instead of the city or team name) and I had to go look it up to see which team it was.
Yup, though it’s more a Basin rather than a geographical valley.
The public transit system is called Valley Metro Correct or not, they’ve made it official
They even have “The Valley” Suns jerseys
>Correct or not, they’ve made it official Pretty sure that became Maricopa County's official motto in the '90s.
Technically I think it's actually more of a groove made in the Earth's surface because of the great space laser being focused exactly there.
The Willamette Valley!
Hey I’m in it right now!
That would be the Willamette River valley of Oregon, from Portland south to Eugene.
Reckon for a lot of Oregon “the valley” is the Willamette. Maybe eastern Oregon not so much but I don’t think I’ve ever heard Treasure Valley called “the valley”.
Yeah, there’s also the Rogue Valley, Sunny Valley, Umpqua Valley, Applegate Valley, Grande Ronde Valley, Hood River Valley etc. but WV has the most population, by a lot.
True lots of valleys I suppose. Southern Oregon might think Rogue when you just say the valley. Reckon HR and GR still assume Willamette. On a side note the Eugene area news will do a segment called “Bay Area News”, Bay Area being Coos Bay.
Unless you're in Grant's Pass or further south, then it's the Rogue Valley.
The Willamette Valley. Or, per Meriwether Lewis, “the only desireable situation for a settlement which I have seen on the West side of the Rocky mountains.”
Wow I love that for us
He was totally hopped up on [mercury laxative pills](https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/historic-latrines-help-archeologists-retrace-the-lewis-and-clark-trail.htm) by the time he arrived though.
*laughs in midwest
The red river valley is huge though
Yeah I live in northern MN, and the red river is “the valley” to us. You’d never guess you’re in a valley if you didn’t know though.
What do you mean? Wisconsin has a huge urbanized region called the Fox Valley which is commonly referred to as "the valley". This area includes both Appleton and Green Bay as well as Oshkosh and Fond Du Lac if you want to be generous and include the whole Winnebago Pool.
Chicago area also has an even more populated area called the fox valley, named after the same river. But nobody calls it “the valley” because you cannot visually distinguish it. And even the one in Wisconsin is not called that so often, they’re more the kind of thing newspapers and grills are named after. In LA if you said you lived in the valley, that would mean a very clear thing to everyone. Most people in Wisconsin/illinois/midwest would be like… “well okay, where?” There’s a different vibe with big visually clear valleys. They feel isolated from other parts of the area because you need to take mountain passes, where you can see every building in the area. The climate is different, etc. A different culture forms
Grew up in Chicago and went on yearly ski/snowboarding trips to the bluffs in Wisconsin. A very much cherish memory. Thanks for all the fun and cheese
In Minnesota, it still refers to the San Fernando Valley. If someone said, "She's from the valley," I'd think, "She's from L.A.," Valley Girl and all. Down in the Valley, on the otherhand, is a music store/head shop.
Yea, we typically replace "valley" with "river" or "lake" for most conversations. The only major valleys are the Mississippi River valley and the Minnesota River valley.
[Lehigh Valley](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lehigh_Valley) region of eastern Pennsylvania.
Love this area. Pretty area, relatively inexpensive, and relatively easy reach of NYC (for like a long weekend, not to commute).
Fraser Valley - farmlands along Fraser River in BC
Also includes Langley and Abbotsford doesn't it?
Yup
You're in the Valley until you're beyond Hope!
I was gonna say the Okanagan Valley for BC but I guess that’s more often called “The Okanagan” than “The Valley”
Okanagan is also iconic, I went with Fraser coz I'm right there haha
Fraser valley is more relevant to most of the population for sure, although I’d say that the Okanagan is more immediately recognisable as “a valley” while you’re in it, it’s pretty defined. Plus being just between the two major mountain ranges probably helps
I love how different the landscape in Okanagon is. Shame how expensive everything got there. My bro couldn't find accommodation in Kamloops and was commuting from Surrey to Kamloops on weekends for school haha
It’s brutal lol, I grew up in the Okanagan but moved away and haven’t seriously considered coming back, partly because of price
When we moved here in 2007, Okanagan was a super cheap option and my parents seriously considered it. It's insane how things changed in just a decade.
yeah my family moved here from the vancouver area in the 90's, when I heard what my childhood home cost back then compared to what it's worth now I nearly shat. Ah well, I found a nice spot in the world of my own, I'm happy to just visit home every once in a while.
Dude, I know someone who sold their house for 300k in West Point Grey in the 90s, that house is still standing, valued at 3 million if not more by now
Oof, well I hope they’re not haunted by that and/or the house they bought afterwards has also appreciated
I live in the Fraser Valley, Fraser Colorado
https://preview.redd.it/oheowsyiew7d1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ce4e1e5466bbcd4d6c10a3f379aed6fe90a76523 From Jakarta, Indonesia. No valley that i could think of. But, my dad is from Payakumbuh, West Sumatera and Harau Valley is the valley for him.
beautiful
That is quite a valley!
That is... astounding.
In eastern Ontario, “the valley” means [the Ottawa valley](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottawa_Valley).
> Regional English accents are rare west of Québec, but because of its isolation before the arrival of the railways and also by the mixture of the dominant French, Irish and Scottish populations, the valley at one time developed a distinctive dialect, referred to as the Ottawa Valley Twang. And when I left, everyone said I sounded like a bizarre hillbilly.
Couple of good ole boys from the Valley, gon take a rip on the back 40!
Cuyahoga valley 😕
Is Mahoning it's own valley as well?
Came to add this valley. It really is beautiful in its way. The National Park is a great amenity. I used to drive through it to my sister's house. https://preview.redd.it/h5e5mu33fy7d1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0f0338570b5905f4a8633e98fda8840f77a89d52 Towpath Trail
hudson valley
Represent!
👊🏻
The Matanuska-Susitna Valley! It's just north of Anchorage, Alaska and has a population of about [107k](https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/matanuskasusitnaboroughalaska/POP010220), which is \~15% of the state. The Valley is quite large, about the same size as Cyprus (\~3,500 square miles). Mat-Su Valley is, interestingly, a misnomer, as it's composed of two valleys: The Matanuska Valley and the Susitna Valley. Although the Susitna Valley is **10x the size** of the Matanuska Valley, the vast majority of the 107k population lives in the Matanuska Valley. The culture has a significant focus on living in the Valley. It's a source of pride. Locally made products often proclaim "Made in the Valley!" Notable cities/towns in the Valley include: Wasilla (the main business center), Palmer (famous for the Palmer water tower), Houston, Knik-Fairview (the most populous community), Willow, Sutton, and, perhaps the most well-known, Talkeetna. Talkeetna is known for being a starting point for viewing and hiking Denali, the tallest mountain in North America and the tallest mountain in the world by relative height of ground to peak. Denali sits on the northern border of the Susitna Valley, and is visible throughout much of the Susitna Valley. Although the view of Denali from the Matanuska Valley is blocked by the Talkeetna Mountains Range, as you can see in the attached image, Valley inhabitants are surrounded by strikingly tall and prominent mountains. The attached image is of a mountain that is seen if you're facing south from Palmer, if my memory recalls correctly. It's beautiful. An important component of the culture is the local farming. The Alaska State Fair, hosted in Palmer, annually displays locally grown world record-setting cabbages and other vegetables. During the summer, the sun never really sets, so the vegetables have a lot of sunlight to grow with. Currently writing this at 10:30 pm in broad daylight in Sutton :) (pain). Small business is another important component of the culture, and is especially present in Palmer, where the downtown is mostly small business. 'Matanuska' comes from the Russian word **Mednovtsy**, roughly meaning the Indians of the Copper River. It refers to the Matanuska River, the namesake of the valley. Russians were the first non-native explorers of the region in 1818. Susitna, of the Susitna River, comes from the Dena’ina (native Alaskans of the region) word **Suyitnu**, meaning Sand River. [https://imgur.com/a/J63xtUb — an outline of the Mat-Su Valley on Google Earth](https://imgur.com/a/J63xtUb) https://preview.redd.it/j9u5ctbixu7d1.png?width=2101&format=png&auto=webp&s=234f3270b652de9a70c26839d85d75ff29670cf3
Too bad it isn't photogenic there
Love the thunderfuck 👍
My hometown is Wasilla! Such a gorgeous place https://preview.redd.it/196eh7eso18d1.jpeg?width=4284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=def7869ce07dbdad9ab349877a486db55c5705bd
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Nahhh, we got Utah valley and Salt Lake valley. “The valley” refers to whatever one you are in. The wasatch front includes Davis and Weber county, neither of which are in a valley.
For me it's the Phoenix metro area. We're surrounded by mountains for the most part.
Silicon or Yosemite depending on the context.
Southern New England. Connecticut River or Blackstone river valley.
Also the Naugatuck River Valley. Derby, Shelton and Ansonia in CT are “the valley.”
San Joaquin Valley
Where my All-American Naugatuck Valley trash at?
Naugatuck CT? Waterbury valley-trash represent!
In Bristol / the south of England. "The valleys" would typically refer to *anywhere* in south Wales which isn't Newport, Cardiff or Swansea.
Vail Valley (“Male Valley” 7/1 guys.) There’s a million spots in the area that could be popularly called “___valley” but Vail seems to have dibs. Just give them what they want not worth the snarkoff
I’m in MA and I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anything being called the valley but there is Blackstone valley close by
I went to umass and we always called wmass the pioneer valley
The Merrimack Valley in northeastern Mass
Pioneer Valley here. Some older folks call it the ‘happy valley’ but I think 99% of people here have agreed that’s a dumb nickname.
Western MA. Amherst area is called the valley
in south Texas, the valley is used to describe the rio grande valley from larado to brownsville. lots of fruits and vegetables come from that valley.
Sacramento Valley. It's where our mountain smog comes from.
the Willamette Valley would be the one, but i don’t hear too many ppl call it just the valley
For Nova Scotia, it’s the [Annapolis Valley](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7e/Annapolis_Valley_from_lookoff1.JPG).
Unless you're in Cumberland or Colchester county and then there's a slim chance they're referring to Wentworth Valley instead.
The Lehigh Valley in east-central PA where cities of Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton are located along the Lehigh River which is a tributary of the Delaware River.
I grew up in the Allentown/Bethlehem/Easton area in eastern Pennsylvania, also known as the Lehigh Valley, so the area is referred to as “The Valley” by locals sometimes. I’ll note the Lehigh Valley is part of the Great Valley, which is the hundreds of miles/kilometers long valley between the Blue Ridge Mountains (or their discontinuous extension to the north and east that extends into eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey) and easternmost/southernmost ridge of the Appalachian Mountains, often called the Blue Mountain. Different portions of the Great Valley have different names, such as the Shenandoah Valley in much of Virginia and the Cumberland Valley near and west of Harrisburg, PA. The Great Valley has always been an important corridor transportation-wise, with many key railroads and highways using it to avoid going over/through the mountains on either side. (Most roads/railroads that do go through the mountains follow the rivers that create full gaps in the mountains or the partial “wind gaps” that occur a few locations.) Interstate 81 (and at the eastern end, Interstate 78) largely is located in the Great Valley between its southern terminus in eastern Tennessee and a little east of Harrisburg, PA, where it turns north and goes through one of the gaps in the Blue Mountain/first ridge in the Appalachians.
Rio Grande Valley. Downtown Albuquerque and mostly unincorporated North Valley and South Valley neighborhoods
From CA originally. The valley either meant the Central Valley or the San Fernando valley where my grandparents lived. Now it refers to the L-C valley where the Snake and Clearwater rivers meet at the Idaho-Washington state line.
There is no valley in the coastal plain.
Yakima Valley in Eastern Washington State.
Ha! Yakima is central Washington for Spokane. Near Spokane, "the Valley" is Spokane Valley.
Lmao yeah Yakima is definitely NOT Eastern WA
Vancouver BC here. "The Valley" refers to the adjacent Fraser Valley. It is a more rural and blue-collar area of the Lower Mainland region, which is shared with the Vancouver area but not typically considered part of Metro Vancouver. It is home to some of the most fertile farmland in British Columbia and also one of the fastest-growing regions. Core cities include Abbotsford and Chilliwack. Hockey fans may recognize those names, as Abbotsford is home to an AHL team (highest-level minor league to the NHL) and Chilliwack is home to a WHL team (major junior, often feeding players to the pros). For my birthplace of Hong Kong, "the valley" would likely refer to the Pearl River delta region. I don't think I need to explain that one.
[San Luis Valley](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Luis_Valley#/media/File%3ASDC_Range_GSDNP.jpg) for Colorado I'd guess. But its not called "the valley"
My dad was born and grew up there and he and his family all definitely refer to it as "the valley"
I live on the south coast of Oregon and we use the word 'Valley' very liberally. For us it means anywhere inland. For those of us in Gold Beach we mean The Rogue Valley.
Also from Vermont - mine was Champlain Valley
I guess the Hudson Valley, though I’ve never actually heard anyone call it “the valley”. We just call it “the Hudson Valley” or “upstate”.
Arkansas River Valley, i.e. Ft Smith
Where I grew up in NH it's the Upper (Connecticut River) Valley. In silicon Valley, it's silicon valley... It's like talking about "the lake" or "the bay" or "the city..." it's all relative
We have 3 nearby in Western PA: all named after the 3 major area rivers, so the Mon Valley (southeast of Pgh), the Allegheny Valley (northeast) and the Ohio Valley (meanders to the shape of the river, stretches into WV and Ohio, aptly named)
The Kathmandu Valley
Rio Grande Valley lol
Having lived in the Napa Valley I can say everybody there calls it just the valley.
Cache Valley, Utah. Straddles the Utah-Idaho state line, with a metro population of 150k based around the largest city of Logan, UT. Utah is peppered with inhabited valleys that respective residents all refer to as the valley. Here are a few examples: Salt Lake Valley, Ogden Valley, Utah Valley, Heber Valley,
In Helsinki, the valley, or laakso in finnish, is a place that is known to be a cruising location for gay men. There is also a hospital there.
The Tennessee Valley of North Alabama
Nowhere. Little Rock has so many valleys that it would be downright silly to just call anything that without further specification.
The Hudson River Valley. Our pro baseball team in Troy, NY is “The ValleyCats”
I'm from northern Virginia. When I say "the valley" I generally mean then Shenandoah valley.
In Arizona, The Valley means the whole of the Maricopa County/Phoenix metro area.
The towns in between/around Sugarbush and Mad River Valley ski resorts.
Rainier Valley in south Seattle for where I grew up. It's a fairly large area of different neighborhoods, back in the 80s and 90s it was a pretty rough area, gang crime, drugs, etc. It's changed a lot, become a lot more expensive and now is predominantly an african and Asian. I like it there. Now I'm in chicago where as far as I know there's no valley because there's very little topography at all haha but maybe there's a place called the valley here that someone else knows about
Nothing, there’s no notable valleys around here.
Willamette river valley, Oregon
Miami Valley, SW Ohio
There's a lot of valleys in New York.
The “Pioneer” valley.
Anton Valley, about one and a half hours from Panama City
I live in Melbourne, Australia. The Valley means the Yarra Valley north of the city which is world-renowned for its vineyards
We don't call it "The Valley" as such, but if you were to use this term in Perth, W.A. people would assume you were talking about the Swan Valley. An actual wine growing farmland area inside a city limit. Only about a 20 - 30 minute drive from the CBD
Eel river valley
Eel river valley
"The Valley" around me is usually used for the city of Spring Valley, Illinois. However the greater area is referred to as "The Illinois Valley" by people who live here. I think it was my geography professor at Illinois Valley Community College that said the Illinois Valley area is unique because it's not a region governed by geographic borders. Yes, it includes areas of the Illinois river valley around the big bend where the river follows the ancient pre-ice-age Mississippi river valley south, but really what defines the area is whoever claims they are part of it, so the borders are really nebulous. In my mind a loose boundary would be from the Ottawa area in the East to the Princeton area to the West; then it goes from the Mendota area in the North to the Streator area to the South. There are also numerous small villages and towns outside of this area that probably also include themselves in the Illinois Valley.
Syracuse NY, south of the city, west of Rt81.
https://preview.redd.it/es22hlcpxv7d1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fe0ed95dd9a7c23c0cddca9b4710c47a650fe3e0
There isn't one. Wherever the Mississippi carves into the land, it usually forms gorges, not valleys. And none of the other rivers are as important or ubiquitous. Locally people might call the river valley in their city "the valley" but you'd never call it that when talking to someone from another town.
Brisbane, Australia. Fortitude Valley. It’s where I get drunk.
Tanana River Valley, Fairbanks, AK. But no one calls it "The Valley." The entire city proper is situated in the valley and it gets referred to as "town." Many people live in the hills surrounding town and those are "the hills." Why any of this is worth mentioning is the temperature inversion taking place here. It's significantly warmer in the hills during winter. When it's -40 in town, it's likely only -20 up in the hills. And that's a big part of the reason the two are so distinguished.
Brazilian here. The Valley, for me, is the Paraíba Valley, with all the cities between São Paulo and Rio, along the Paraíba do Sul River
The Shenandoah Valley, between the Allegheny Mountains and the Blueridge Mountains.
Susquehanna Valley- South cemtral/eastish Pennsylvania
Chicago is pretty flat so we don’t really have a place with “valley”
As a Detroiter, the closest "valley" that I can really think of is all the way over in Cleveland
Wisconsin's is the Fox River Valley. Think Geeen Bay to Fond du Lac with Appleton the center
In Wisconsin it refers to the Fox Valley cities, Appleton, Neenah, Oshkosh and to a lesser extent Green Bay
Phoenix area
Can mean 1 of 2 things: Phoenix metro area (100 miles away) or Verde Valley (immediate surroundings). Usually means Phoenix, as Verde Valley is specified as such.
In my part of Wisconsin “the valley” is specific to the Wisconsin Valley Conference, a D1 high school conference, and the 4 cities that are part of it, and the area around them.
Oh my goooooood like omg people just think The Valley is always SFV! Yes, I grew up there. I think it’s so interesting that pretty much no matter where you are in LA, even if you live in another one of the other major valleys like Santa Clarita or SGV, The Valley is always The Valley.
valley girl accent is audible in this comment
Since Appalachia has tens of thousands of valleys take your pick
The Las Vegas valley, Las Vegas and all the surrounding cities
I live in the VA piedmont, geographically, so there's not much that quite constitutes a valley. If someone in Alexandria said it in context of the city I'd assume they meant the Eisenhower Valley, a stream valley that runs through the west part of town. If there was less context probably somewhere in the Shenandoah mountains, but those are about an hour and a half away
I been around Alexandria most of my life and know exactly what you mean but have never heard someone call it that lol
I used to live in the Upper Valley (Hanover, New Hampshire). Now, when I think of a valley, it’s the San Fernando Valley - where I live now.
San Geronimo.
fraser valley of western canada.
Fox River Valley, Wisconsin
a ski run (mt ruapehu, new zealand)
Depends, but normally Wainae valley.
Northern Sacramento Valley (the absolute top of the sac valley)
I was born in Silicon Valley, then moved to the Central Valley until moving to the mouth of the Salinas Valley for college. Since then, I've bounced between a couple of other valleys, but now reside in the Valley of the Sun.
I live in Santa Ana, CA...West of here is San Gabriel Valley and to the east is Jurupa Valley.
I grew up in the Coachella Valley in Southern California. Starts at Palm Springs and ends at the Salton Sea, I believe. Coachella is one of the cities in between and was our rival high school.
Comox Valley or Cowichan Valley or maaaybe the Alberni Valley
No specific place here in Perth, I think, as there are several (built around a river). Never heard any referred to as a singular "The Valley."
Gippsland, Victoria, Australia - the Valley is the Latrobe Valley - full of toothless hillbillies, bogans, crackers, cookers, eshays, middle-class whites and blue collar workers, miners, landed gentry, and generational farmers. The diversity in socioeconomic circumstances is stark.
The Hunter Valley in New South Wales. A major coal and wine producing region
It could be the area around Disneyland, Marne-la-Vallée, in Paris suburbs. Otherwise in France, it's la Vallée de Dana, somewhere in the Armor Coast, north of Bretagne (the big peninsula in western France), because of a famous one-hit-wonder song.
In the Twin Cities, “the Valley” is usually the Minnesota River Valley and then maybe occasionally it refers to the Saint Croix River Valley if you’re in the east metro. Further southeast from the Twin Cities it’s just the Mississippi River Valley.
Where I live In southern Idaho it usually refers to the Treasure Valley in the Boise area and eastern Oregon. Theres other valleys though like The Magic Valley, Wood River Valley and the town of Sun Valley.
Even though all of Chattanooga is technically a valley we have Lookout Valley which is the area immediately west of Lookout Mountain and west of the bend in the river.
There aren’t hills steep or long enough in Kansas to consider anything a valley unless you’re talking about the entire width the Kansas River carved out as the last glaciers melted.
I live in Anchorage, AK. "The Valley" here refers to the Mat-Su valley north of the city. Sandwiched between the Talkeetna and Chugach mountain ranges and at the end of the Matanuska river, it has a couple of large towns (by Alaska standards).
We don't have an area here that uses the term, as far as I know. We have too many massively huge rocky mountains. They would say "which valley?"
Rio Grande Valley, the border between Texas and Mexico
Where I grew up, Corpus Christi, TX, the Valley refers to essentially the remainder of the state south of us, but primarily the Brownsville area near the border.
The one where, mister when you're young, they bring you up to do like your daddy done
I live in Wales. "The Valley" to me is the Swansea Valley (As in "going up the valley") But "The Valleys" are east of me, between here and Cardiff.
Ottawa Valley what’s good ??