Table 1. Social connectivity: The US Southern region appears to have an unusually high level of social connectivity.

(In GSS survey results, the number of close friends, close friends who are neighbors, and number of friends who all or mostly know each other is higher in the South, especially in the East/South/Central census region, than in the country at large.)

	WSC (TX, OK, AR, LA)	ESC (MS, AL, TN, KY)	SA (FL, GA, SC, NC, VA, WV, MD, DC)	Country-at-large	WNC (ND, SD, NE, KS, MO, IA, MN) (not in South/Southeast) this is the second most social region following ESC (MS, AL, TN, KY)
Close friends	7.22	12.76	8.20	7.57	10.56
Close friends who are neighbors	1.02	3.40	1.32	1.45	3.15
% of friends who all or mostly know each other	All:20% Mostly: 43%	All:18% Mostly: 58%	All: 11% Mostly: 52%	All: 12 Mostly: 50%	All: 16% Mostly: 58%
How often visit closest friends*	107	151	126	122	129

*Survey options are: lives in household, daily, several times a week, once a week, once a month, several times a year, and less often. These are converted to approximate number of visits per year (see Supplement for more information about the GSS analysis).