"Hawaii's remote location means no one would want to attack it" *Japan enters the chat*

#50 Mississippi 0:37 - 1:29 #49 Oklahoma 1:30 - 2:08 #48 Kentucky 2:09 - 2:37 #47 Alabama 2:38 - 3:15 #46 Arkansas 3:16 - 3:52 #45 Idaho 3:52 - 4:24 #44 Missouri 4:24 - 4:50 #43 Montana 4:50 - 5:22 #42 New Mexico 5:22 - 5:55 #41 Tennessee 5:55 - 6:24 #40 West Virginia 6:25 - 7:02 #39 Wyoming 7:03 - 7:36 #38 Arizona 7:36 - 8:17 #37 Indiana 8:18 - 8:47 #36 Iowa 8:48 - 9:22 #35 Kansas 9:23 - 9:56 #34 Louisiana 9:57 - 10:27 #33 Maine: 10:29 - 11:11 #32 Michigan 11:11 - 11:52 #31 Nebraska 11:53 - 12:28 #30 Nevada 12:30 - 12:57 #29 Ohio 13:00 - 13:27 #28 South Carolina 13:28 - 13:59 #27 South Dakota 14:00 - 14:33 ----------------Audio Delay---------------- #26 North Dakota 14:35 - 15:00 #25 Utah 15:10 - 15:40 -----------------Audio Delay------------------ #24 Wisconsin 15:40 - 16:07 #23 Alaska 16:08 - 16:41 #22 Colorado 16:43 - 17:08 #21 Delaware 17:10 - 17:36 #20 Hawaii: 17:38 - 18:08 #19 Illinois 18:09 - 18:29 #18 Maryland 18:30 - 19:00 #17 Virginia 19:02 - 19:35 #16 Minnesota 19:36 - 20:02 #15 New Hampshire 20:03 - 20:30 #14 North Carolina 20:32 - 20:55 #13 Oregon 20:57 - 21:27 #12 Georgia 21:29 - 22:06 #11 Pennsylvania 22:08 - 22:47 #10 Rhode Island 22:48 - 23:25 #9 Connecticut 23:26 - 23:48 #8 Vermont 23:50 - 24:22 #7 Washington 24:23 - 25:12 #6 Florida 25:13 - 25:55 #5 New Jersey 26:00 - 26:45 #4 Massachusetts 26:47 - 27:28 #3 New York 27:28 - 28:08 #2 Texas 28:08 - 28:54 #1 California 28:55 - 29:45

This is a cool thought project. I feel like realistically if the US broke up it would end up in regions rather that individual states

As an Alaskan, if the US ever broke apart and we were on our own, we would most likely instantly be invaded and taken over by Russia.

I feel like it's more likely the US will break up into 4 or 5 different regions based on common interests, resource sharing, economic reasons, and political alignments.

California, Texas, and Florida can definitely function as their own country

As an Iowan I need to tell you that it isn't truly land locked. The Mississippi and Missouri rivers make up 2 of our borders which give our state its shape. :)

I could see multiple states align with each other just so they can have access either to the Gulf of Mexico, the Pacific, or the Atlantic.

Much of the US was setup with the intention of remaining in the union - with the exception of the original 13 since they were still trying to figure out the relationship between the states and federal government. If the US were to break apart today, it ls likely certain regions would group together for practical reasons like shipping access and watershed management. For example, I could see the great plains states joining together to retain access to the Mississippi/Red/Missouri river systems for exports and management of their shared aquafer. I could also see regions with similar political views and culture joining together as well. Instead of 50 countries, perhaps it might be more like 10-15 at most.

If a split happens, it won't be 50 individual countries. It would be alliances of ideologically and economically similar states. You'd probably see the Northeast either with Maryland or North Carolina as the southernmost state (depending where North Carolina fell). The Southeast and Rustbelt which would likely overlap with some of the landlocked states. You'd then have the west coast, with likely a surprising amount of those neighboring states trying to latch onto California because money talks. The only state I could see trying to be completely independent would be Texas, and that is more because it's kind of what they've been trying to do forever.

Fun fact! Tulsa, Oklahoma has the furthest inland port in the country at the Port of Catoosa!

The thing is, Minnesota also has the Minntac Surface Mine, it’s one of the largest mining operations in the former US, Minnesota also holds more than 90% of the iron mined for the former US for the past 50 years, so Minnesota is possibly going to have a good economy because of trades of iron as well

One major thing you forgot, is Minnesota is one of the largest exporters of Iron Ore in the United States. This significantly boosts the economy for the long haul, and is critical to any infrastructure.

If trump wins the election again, I will leave the United States If Biden wins the election again, I will leave the United States This is not a political post, I just want to travel

As a Virginian, I find your analysis of the state interesting. What is your reasoning for VA acquiring DC over MD? Geographically its easier for MD to take/defend. However VA does have a strategic edge over MD (and a lot of other states) for 1 main reason: Norfolk. As the base of the Atlantic fleet, VA would have one (if not the) largest Navys of the new countries and control the mouth of the Chesapeake bay, one of the most important waterways in the former US. That alone would push it up a few slots, probably pretty close to 10th or low teens at worse.

While I realize and understand why my home state of Kentucky ranks so low, it DOES have a major waterway connecting it to several other states. The Ohio River! The entire northern border is The Ohio River which converges with The Mississippi River which then flows in to the Gulf of Mexico. Why wasn't that considered?

I read a novel 40 years ago or so where the US had broken up into separate countries and CA had broken up into two countries and were always at war with each other. It actually was an interesting book and the fact the US had broken up was a relatively minor plot point.

I believe that if the union collapsed states would group together and form new regional unions. Those new regional unions would probably form strong ties and possibly create a new more decentralized United States.

As for Massachusetts, if they ended up becoming their own country, they would likely establish greater relations with Nova Scotia, a major player in Canada's Atlantic Provinces. With Halifax and Boston having strong relations and both cities are major regional centres with a well educated population, Nova Scotia and Massachusetts will have a very strong trading, educational, and technological relationship. Massachusetts and Nova Scotia are well known for its highly advanced post secondary education system as both jurisdictions spend a considerable amount of money on its universities and community colleges. Halifax's most well known universities like Dalhousie University, Saint Mary's University, and Mount St. Vincent University could establish partnerships with Boston's Harvard University, Boston University, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Boston could also take advantage of Halifax's strategic significance as its a crossroads between Europe and Pacific North America. As an added bonus, Massachusetts and Nova Scotia residents can take advantage of each others tourism opportunities as they're home to world's most famous landmarks and attractions, notably the Peggy's Cove and Sambro Island Lighthouses just outside Halifax, or even the legendary schooner, the Bluenose.

Okay as a person who lives in Connecticut, I know the country would be small and not well known. But I guess they could make an alliance with New York, but the other states would take it down due to them being much larger.

I’ve lived in Idaho for my entire life, and I have never once heard anybody refer to themselves, me, or other Idahoans as hoers or Idahoers. I have only ever heard people call us Idahoans. I have however been told that the state I live in isn’t real when I talk to people while I’m on vacation.

"What if USA broke up?" It would need some serious couples therapy after that.

One thing I think your missing is lots of people would move to other areas. Not everything is about money… I would be heading to Montana or Wyoming (born and raised) because both of these states would love to have the heavy hand of the feds gone …

i think alaska would quickly join canada or be taken by russia. California would grow and take states on the coast and go east until hitting texan regions. We'd see a floridian nation of a few states up to tennesee or so, east coast would be the messiest region i think.

As a Californian, Id like to bring up the water problems we have. Wouldn’t be too bad once we get desalination plants up and running, but could be a rough first few years. Over all, the only changes we would likely notice is a bit more water regulation at first.

I could see a group of states that are on the same page politically and economically joining together and forming their own nation.

“Kentucky is not near any major waterway.” The Ohio River is the entire northern border of Kentucky.

Indiana used to have a stockpile of VX near where I lived. They didn't get rid of all of it until the mid 2000's I believe. That would have been a big advantage/issue.

"There is nothing can stop it if the former state becomes it's own country." Water would like a word with you.

No one: Americans: Happy 4th of July *Infographics: What if USA broke up?*

Listening to the countdown, it didn’t take long to hear this one go off the rails. At 48, he said, KY has no access to major waterways, well it has more navigable waterways than all states except Alaska, and directly with the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, where they can export coal ( not mentioned herein) as the nation’s third largest coal producing state, after Wyoming and West Virginia. So, if you miss the large coal production, while mentioning it as a positive for other states, and miss the second largest navigable waterways, maybe this entire list is flawed.

If that happened it is most likely that there would be 5 superstates composed of states grouped by region and similarity as some commenters have suggested. Because the individual states would no longer be the focus federally, would we then see a flag with only 5 large stars? What do you think?

I’m still baffled at the size and diversity of culture and ethnicity in the US.

Fallout has some cool lore as to how the country broke up into various commonwealths (and how/why Canada was Annexed). I don’t think every single state would be it’s own thing but rather how Fallout put it.

Thank you! I was looking for a transcript!

The problem is there would be a lot of internal conflict in many of the states such as California, Washington and Oregon where large sections want to secede.

Yes let’s ignore the long-standing rivalry between Michigan and Ohio likely leading to them being the first war to break out

I love the designs you did for every state that has things that are local to it and show a few city names. Definitely good graphic designer over there at info

i love the detail they put into each state, im from portland i was able to name out every skyscraper. because they did that good at making it.

It’s nice to see what every state brings to the table. I’m just glad we can all be friends on the same team🤓

I would love if you were to talk about if the United States were to break into smaller unions that shared same ideological or geographical similarities. For example a Pacific States of America or a New England. Just saying random possibilities. Its a more likely scenario and I would love to see you break it down.

fun fact about vermont (my home state). vermont used to be very militaristic before the establishment of the union. it once invaded and controlled portions of new York, new Hampshire, and portions on Canada. vermont is also extremely well armed. a miniature Texas when it comes to guns.

The State of Missouri has access to the 2 longest and biggest rivers in North America. The Missouri is the longest and the Mississippi is 2nd. Not to mention wheat, barley, livestock and other crops.

Tennessee Would technically be sorta dangerous due to the fact tennessee holds oak ridge witch holds bombs etc

Great video, but I have to point out one thing. Oklahoma has A LOT of oil. In fact, downtown Tulsa (my hometown) is literally sitting on a huge reservoir of oil, one of the biggest in the continental US, in fact. We also grow a sizeable amount of America's food. It's been talked about here and most of us believe what would happen is Oklahoma and Texas would combine to form an agricultural, meat, and oil powerhouse economically. So, you're partially correct; Oklahoma on its own as a country would struggle, but it's more likely we would combine with Texas as a mutually-beneficial arrangement due to the amount of meat, oil, and crops we produce and that new country would do alright.

There is a couple of things you forgot for Oklahoma. One, the Kerr/McClellan waterway (the Arkansas River) is as wide as the Mississippi in places, drains into the Mississippi, and ferries goods back and forth regularly to New Orleans via the Mississippi river. Oklahoma also produces more oil than most of the rest of the country.

As an Irish Canadian, I would love 2 see a united states of North America that is similar to the EU in my lifetime with all the states/ provinces as separate countries would be awesome.

Just love it that you posted it on July 4

Then the US will make a KZfaq video called “We broke up 😢“

Texas would be fine own its own..

As a Pennsylvanian I would like to point out the fact Pa has a very large oil reserve of "green" oil (meaning low sulfur). Where do you think the oil brands Pennzoil and Quaker State started (along with wolfs head motor oils). We also have a nice budding green energy industry with the wind farms in Somerset and access to the great lakes and the Atlantic ocean. Bring in New York and New Jersey...life would be good

The main issue with all the statistics in this video is that they're relevant in a united USA. Separately the situation would be vastly different. Each country will need to make massive adjustments when they can no longer rely on the cooperation of their neighbors and of course the federal government. Moreover this situation is completely unrealistic as if the USA will split it won't be into 50 individual state but rather a handful of republics with proper geography separating them rather than some of the current state borders which are purely political and often makes no geographic sense whatsoever.

You have to take into account the cutting-off of any federal income (benefits, taxes, etc.). A lot of people who depended on those benefits suddenly being cut off would not be good.

In all honesty, I'm kind of surprised that Michigan is so low. I mean, yes, there are some issues with the state. Still though, how the Dakotas and Nebraska rank higher is beyond me.

Cost of living is a big thing he doesnt really talk about here

the major crops your listing are the ones that are subsidized by the government if the states were independent they would probably pick more efficient and more useful crops or whatever crops the state tries to subsidize.

A big problem with using GDP per capita to determine wealth is that cost of living varies greatly from state to state. Making $80,000 in California may get you as much as $40,000 in Mississippi

What the GDP figures don't take into account is the fact that they reflect near frictionless access to the US economy. As independent nations, access would be more difficult and bring GDP figures down.

Great video !

Another thing about Utah is how it could easily hold water sources hostage. Most of the wests water comes from lake Powell one of the largest lakes in Utah. Utah also like Nevada has a massive scene in tourism. The natural beauty of the state is a massive draw to it.

Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska and Missouri may be land locked, but the Missouri River is navigable up to Omaha/Council Bluff and barges used to ply it for as much of the year as it isn't frozen over.

Makes me grateful we are united-better easier and stronger together, than more difficult and weaker apart.

Also, Kentucky has access to the Mississippi River which it could use for its main exports such as Bourbon, Soybeans, Tobacco and more.

I'd love to see the every state to the north and to the east of Pennsylvania, including Pennsylvania, unify and break away.

I’m just made of questions I’ve always thought infographics did a pretty good job but really dropped the ball on this one.

Sometimes I wonder about the research put in to some of these. “Kentucky not on any major waterways”. Have you seen the entire northern border? Not to mention it touches the Mississippi River too.

I know you can't mention everything but an improvement one for Wisconsin is it's massive production of Humvees and tanks along with huge ship yards to build ships if we every went to war and we touch two great lakes

We need this

At “2:20” Kentucky has access to 2 waterways. One being the Kentucky river which connects to the Second the Ohio River with it being the 3rd largest tributary to flow into the Mississippi River. 😀

Indiana also has access to Lake Michigan, and the Ohio River which gives it access, ultimately, to the Mississippi and therefore the Atlantic ocean. We also have significantly better relationships with our neighbors than Illinois, which is basically loathed by everyone in the region.

Hey which editing app do you use?

Texas was independent republic at one time. There is a plaque on the building in London England. That was the Texas Embassy.

Kentucky does have all that gold in Fort Knox and has the Ohio river which could be used to transport goods to any other states on the river, and it leads to the ocean. I think if they used their resources well, they would be better off than you think.

Not to forget to mention that Colorado controls most of the head waters for the Colorado river, which means we control the water source for most of the southwest

See where YOUR state ranks below(with timestamps)!!! Hope this helps cause it took a long time to do. Mississippi- 0:37 Oklahoma- 1:26 Kentucky- 2:09 Alabama- 2:38 Arkansas- 3:16 Idaho- 3:52 Missouri- 4:25 Montana- 4:51 New Mexico- 5:24 Tennessee- 5:57 West Virginia- 6:25 Wyoming- 7:04 Arizona- 7:37 Indiana- 8:17 Iowa- 8:48 Kansas- 9:22 Louisiana- 9:56 Maine- 10:29 Michigan- 11:15 Nebraska- 11:53 Nevada- 12:30 Ohio- 12:58 South Carolina- 13:30 South Dakota- 14:00 North Dakota- 14:34 Utah- 15:15 Wisconsin- 15:41 Alaska- 16:09 Colorado- 16:44 Delaware- 17:11 Hawaii- 17:37 Illinois- 18:10 Maryland- 18:31 Virginia- 19:02 Minnesota- 19:36 New Hampshire- 20:04 North Carolina- 20:30 Oregon- 20:56 Georgia- 21:27 Pennsylvania- 22:07 Rhode Island- 22:49 Connecticut- 23:26 Vermont- 23:50 Washington- 24:25 Florida- 25:15 New Jersey- 26:01 Massachusetts- 26:48 New York- 27:29 Texas- 28:09 California- 28:58 Hey, I accept donations if anybody wants to help me take care of my grandfather in these tough times. Send all donations to my cashapp at $Eazymoneyy502 please. Regardless, I hope u found this useful and remember to stay safe out there!!!

Ohio river is actually mostly in Kentucky, largest city sits at the falls of the Ohio, allowing some transportation and economic advantage.

During the Great Recession, Nebraska was one of the last to feel the effects and one of the first to recover after the recession was over. I'd like to think that my home state would fair very well as an independent country.

Really interesting video! What-If-videos are, generally speaking, very interesting. But to predict is difficult because human behaviour is more often than not unpredictable :D

Regardless of how the states break up, if it does happen i imagine huge wars would break out between different regions based on historical beefs the different regions have always had, us being united is probably the only thing keeping that from happening at least for now

A better perspective might be to look how regional states might combine into 3-6 countries, not 50 countries.

Kentucky isn't near any major waterways? It literally borders both the Ohio River and a small piece of the Mississippi

POV : Your waiting for your state

Great video mate love your stuff. But the one thing I noticed you didn't mention about Cali is what happens if all the other countries it gets fresh water from say no water. Hard to be number 1 if you got no drinkable water

I hope y’all redo this video after getting input from viewers in each of the states. I of course have plenty of suggestions! 1. If possible get rid of the background music! It makes comprehending what is said much more difficult for older folks like me(57) & yes, I watch almost all your videos! 2. Reevaluate the GDP of the new Country-States by removing the Corporate & top 1% taxable income earners as those will certainly move to wherever their economic outlook seems better! 3. Reconsider the energy and transportation infrastructure changes if you can. New national borders will change how each is permitted to travel across each border. I’d expect NYC to secede or be booted from “Upstate” then unite with N.J. and maybe a few other smaller states, ie, Maryland & Rhode Island.

What about the US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, and other unincorporated territories?

*Texans have entered the chat.*

What a great social studies project this would make - rank the 50 states in order of self-sufficiency!

16:41 "Number 22 - Colorado" *displays picture of Lake Morraine in Alberta, Canada*

Arizona should team up with Nevada and turn off California's water, then they will have plenty of water for themselves.

I'm really surprised Oregon made it so high most people tend to over look it

Infographics didn’t consider the economic changes that would happen when the national power & transport infrastructure would break up. Also, how would Multinational Corporations relocate when each state has its own tax laws? Each new country-state would likely enact import taxes and encourage local manufacturing inside its own borders. I’m still enjoying Infographics rundown of each states assets. I didn’t think about Nevada’s technological edge it’ll have because of area51!

The picture in the Colorado one was actually in Alberta, Canada.

Lets just stick together, we can work this thing out. We have a lot more in common than we are different. We would hate each other a lot less if we stopped consuming so much digital media and started going outside and meeting real people.

Maryland would *DEFINITELY* get Washington DC, not Virginia. Virginia already reclaimed their side of the Potomac River and made it into Arlington, VA. It militarily makes no sense for them to gain a tiny sliver of land across the river. Maryland is also home to the Naval Academy and many forts/strongholds remaining from the Revolutionary War and the Civil War so they’re no pushover.

Just a technical point, the music was very loud on this video 😊

The thought of the U.S.A breaking up makes me sick to my stomach.

Hawaii has been fiercely fought over in the past for its unique geographical location in the pacific, making it an excellent naval base location. It would not be left alone. We only have Hawaii for its military benefits. Tourism, even, came later.

I think you're forgetting that California is completely reliant on out of state supplies of water as it's in a perpetual drought

Wow! This reminds me of the hunger games except it’s 50 different districts rather than 12 or 13 (depends on when in the hunger games your talking about)

22:53 Diary Production 😂