Southern Tier

The Southern Tier is a geographic subregion of the broader Upstate region of New York State, geographically situated along or very near the state border with Pennsylvania. Definitions of the region vary widely, but generally encompass counties surrounding the Binghamton and Elmira-Corning metropolitan areas. This region is adjacent to the Northern Tier of Pennsylvania, and both these regions together are known as the Twin Tiers. Geographically, most of the Southern Tier resides in the Allegheny Plateau of the Appalachian Mountains, with the eastern areas of the region nestled in the western portion of the Catskill Mountains. A longtime home of the Iroquois Confederacy, European settlers moved to the region after the American Revolutionary War. The fertile yet hilly land, combined with sweeping river valleys, led the region to support a combination of manufacturing industries (including large companies such as IBM and Corning Inc.) and farming, but with less development compared to neighboring subregions of Upstate. Since the 1950s, the area is often considered to be a part of the Rust Belt, as manufacturing jobs have left the region. The eight counties almost always included in the Southern Tier are: Less frequently included in the "Southern Tier" designation are Schuyler County, Yates County (the regional sentiment is stronger throughout the southern portions of Yates, such as the village of Dundee), Cortland County and Tompkins County; even more rarely, Chenango County; and far more rarely, Schoharie County and Otsego County. (The last three of these plus Broome County are commonly considered part of the tourist designation "Central Leatherstocking Region", while Schoharie County is also listed as part of the Capital District.) At least one definition used by the state Department of Transportation includes Sullivan County, which usually isn't included in other definitions.