Home State.

This is something I've been wondering and hopefully the people of this forum will help answer my questions.The basic question is:
How much does one's State (e.g., Alabama) define one's identity?Do people associate themselves more with a region, such as seeing themselves as a Southerner or a New Englander or is it common to identify with their state?
I know people from Texas and other such large states identify with their state, but I'm not sure about smaller states.If so what does being a Nebraskan, e.t.c. mean to you?Finally I am aware that there are many who do not identify with such things.

Strange, because what led me to posting this was that I also recently did the exact same thing. I decided that since China and America are such big, important countries I should know the names and locations of their various sub-regions.

Here in Ireland the counties have very strong individual identities, even though they are far smaller than US states. This isn't too surprising given that most of them have had hundreds of years to build up an identity or even over a thousand years in certain cases such as County Meath and Kildare since they existed as the kingdom of Mide since at least 100 AD.

I've spoken to many Europeans who have lived in America for an extended period of time and I often hear high praise for the Pacific NorthWest. What in particular makes it a special place for you?

Thanks for the responses so far. A conversation today with some Americans brought my mind back to this thread.
If people don't mind I would like to ask the following:What's the joke with Ohio? A lot of Americans I've talked to and some of the responses seem to indicate there is something funny about this state.In Ireland we have two counties Leitrim and Roscommon. Leitrim gets laughed at for being super rural, Roscommon for being a nowhere land disconnected from the rest of the universe. Is Ohio laughed at for being the former or the latter?Finally I'd love to hear people's thoughts on some of the states we don't really hear about over here. Nebraska, Wyoming, Idaho or Iowa.