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The Mountain States (also known as the Mountain West and the Interior West) form one of the nine geographic divisions of the United States that are officially recognized by the United States Census Bureau. It is a subregion of the Western United States. The Mountain States are usually split up into two other regions known as the Northwest and Southwest. Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming are considered part of the Northwest, while Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah are considered part of the Southwest. The division consists of eight states: Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. These eight states have the highest mean elevations of all 50 U.S. states. Together with the Pacific States of Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington, the Mountain States constitute the broader region of the West, one of the four regions the United States Census Bureau formally recognizes (the Northeast, South, and Midwest being the other three). The word "Mountain" refers to the Rocky Mountains, which run north-south through portions of the states of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico. Arizona and Nevada, as well as other parts of Utah and New Mexico, have other smaller mountain ranges and scattered mountains located in them as well. Sometimes the Trans-Pecos area of West Texas is considered part of the region. Mountain Time is observed in nearly the entire division, except Nevada (all but the stateline city of West Wendover) and the Idaho Panhandle. Daylight saving time is not observed in Arizona, except for lands within the Navajo Nation (northeast corner of the state) which observe daylight saving time due to the Nation traversing state lines. For this reason, most of Arizona is one hour behind the rest of the Mountain Time Zone from the second Sunday in March until the first Sunday in November.〔(Infoplease: Daylight Saving Time, A trip around the world reveals that time isn't a synchronized science )〕 Phoenix is the largest metropolitan area of the Mountain States, followed by Denver, Las Vegas, and Salt Lake City. ==Regional geography== The Mountain West is one of the largest and most diverse regions in the United States. Most regional boundaries of the Mountain West are often looked at as the area from the High Plains to the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Range. The southern and northern portions of the Mountain West are often split into two separate regions. The southern portion (Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, and Nevada) is often called the greater Southwest region, while the northern portion (Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana) is often called either the Northwest states or the Northern Mountain West region.〔()〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mountain States」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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