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The US Southeast is the eastern portion of the Southern United States, but the Census Bureau does not provide a standard definition of a "Southeast" region of the United States, and organizations that need to subdivide the US are free to define a "Southeast" region to fit their needs. [1] However, Georgia is almost always included, Texas is never included, and inclusion of other states varies.

Atlanta is the central metropolis of the Southeast [2] [3] , and the Southeast roughly corresponds to an area with Atlanta centrally located, with Hartsfield as the region's airline hub. Much of Virginia is associated with the Washington, Richmond or Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News metropolitan areas. A portion of the latter extends into North Carolina.

The region boasts a number of prominent universities, with several large research universities of longstanding significance (such as University of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, Virginia Tech, UNC Chapel Hill, Florida International University, Furman University, University of Georgia, Emory University, Duke University, Medical College of Georgia, University of Miami, Medical University of South Carolina,North Carolina State University, Clemson University, University of South Carolina and Georgia Institute of Technology) exerting an influence beyond the region. Research Triangle Park, in the Raleigh-Durham urban area of North Carolina has emerged (over a nearly 50-year existence) as a major hub of technology, governmental and biotechnological research and development, as has the Virginia BioTechnology Research Park in Richmond. The Cummings Research Park in the Huntsville, Alabama area is another of the largest research complexes in the nation.

Beyond Megalopolis by Virginia Tech's Metropolitan Institute, an attempt to update Jean Gottmann's work with current trends, defines two "megapolitan areas" contained within the Southeast, out of a total of ten such areas in the United States:

• "Piedmont" centered on Atlanta and extending from North Carolina to Alabama
• "Peninsula" covering South Florida and Central Florida

Two others tie some areas on the margins of the Southeast to urban centers in other regions:

• "Gulf Coast" extending as far east as the western tip of Florida
• "Northeast" including much of eastern Virginia