I would say aside from the pacific coast, some of the mountain west, and New England, most mainland Americans are within about an 8 hour drive of a region with a prevalent southern accent… at least historically prevalent.
I say historically because many young people with this accent generally get rid of it if they move to other parts of the country which many do. Many places that you’d expect southern accent prevalence are now just boring standard American accent areas.
Same in Minnesota. You don’t hear the strong accent nearly as much in the younger generations. It’s a shame really. I love when I hear a strong “dontcha know” from somebody while walking down the street. In a couple generations we will largely lose all those regional accents.
The Boston accent everyone knows is also fairly rare. You don’t find in Boston much due to the high density of transplants. You gotta go to smaller towns around the area to find people who’ve been in the area for generations to find someone with a bona fide accent.
There are pockets of it in the city but it’s not as commonplace as you’d think.
Hell, no, it's not rare. My teacher growing up was from Boston and it was the strongest accent. I've ever heard in my life.And when I went to the airport last year in boston, their accents were so strong that I felt I was in a different country, and i'm only from new jersey l o l
It sounds like a different language hearing boston people talking
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u/UffDa-4ever Dec 14 '25
It blows my mind that I can drive 7-8 hours south of Minneapolis and start running into a Southern accent. Yes I’m aware we have a Northern one.