page_title: Michiana
section_title: Greater Michiana
hierarchical_section_title: Michiana / Greater Michiana
caption_attribution_description: East side of Mishawaka, Indiana, with the St. Joe River flowing from Osceola. In the lower left is the AM General Hummer plant and Penn High School. In the upper right is Baugo Bay. Elkhart is in the distance. Photo by Derek Jensen (Tysto), 2005-April-14
context_page_description: Michiana is a region in northern Indiana and southwestern Michigan centered on the city of South Bend, Indiana. The Chamber of Commerce of St. Joseph County, Indiana defines Michiana as St. Joseph County and "counties that contribute at least 500 inbound commuting workers to St. Joseph County daily." Those counties include Elkhart, La Porte, Marshall, St. Joseph, and Starke in Indiana, and Berrien and Cass in Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the population of those seven counties was 856,377.
  The name is a portmanteau of "Michigan" and "Indiana" and was chosen as the winning entry, purportedly submitted by Indiana politician Thurman C. Crook, among others, in a contest to name the area held by the Associated South Bend Merchants in 1934. The term is frequently used throughout the area, particularly by local radio and television stations based in South Bend that serve the entire area, but also by businesses that seek to draw customers from Indiana into Michigan or vice versa.
context_section_description: Greater Michiana includes the following 15 counties in Indiana and Michigan:
  Berrien County, Michigan
  Cass County, Michigan
  St. Joseph County, Michigan
  Van Buren County, Michigan
  Elkhart County, Indiana
  Fulton County, Indiana
  Kosciusko County, Indiana
  LaGrange County, Indiana
  Lake County, Indiana
  La Porte County, Indiana
  Marshall County, Indiana
  Noble County, Indiana
  Porter County, Indiana
  St. Joseph County, Indiana
  Starke County, Indiana
  The Chamber of Commerce of St. Joseph County (Indiana) defines Greater Michiana as "counties within a 60-mile driving distance to St. Joseph County" that are not included in the seven counties making up Michiana "proper." However, the driving distance presumably refers to the distance between the metropolitan South Bend area and significant population centers in outlying areas, since a strict definition allowing for 60 miles from any point in St. Joseph County would add even more counties to the Greater Michiana area. For example, Walkerton in southwestern St. Joseph County is located approximately 30 miles from Monterey in northeastern Pulaski County, yet Pulaski is not included in the Chamber's list of Greater Michiana counties.
  Because Michiana is not a legal or political entity, opinions differ about what counties and communities constitute the region. Some definitions of the entire Michiana area include fewer than 15 counties; others include Pulaski County and exclude some other outlying counties, notably those in extreme Northwest Indiana, whose residents identify more closely with Chicago than with the South Bend area.
  Michiana's borders overlap with those of the Chicago metropolitan area, and the two regions have significant cultural ties. South Bend in particular has strong ties to Chicago: it is home to the last stop on the South Shore Line, a commuter rail line connecting Chicago's downtown and south side to Indiana, and the nearby University of Notre Dame is noted for its strong connection with Chicago. Berrien County, Michigan, is known as a common summer vacation destination for wealthy Chicagoans; the Wall Street Journal called the area "the Hamptons of the Midwest".
caption: The St. Joseph River flows through the heart of Michiana, southwest from Michigan to Indiana, west through Mishawaka (shown), turning north at South Bend, back into Michigan through Niles to Lake Michigan at St. Joseph.
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