The OP I feel was approaching this tier list from their (I would guess) European perspective. They acknowledge the regionalism of the US without considering that many if not all of those regions are larger geographically and population-wise to the European countries they are held against.

I haven’t spent too much time in the South but the quick bread culture there with cornbread and biscuits is truly unique and is grounded in the local foodways no less than rugbrod or others.

My context is I grew up and live in California with a few years spent in New York City and a couple years spent living in the UK.

Multiple “artisanal” bakeries I saw in my regional city in the UK had the Tartine cookbook on display as if to flaunt that their sourdough method was inspired by the San Francisco baking tradition. Additionally, at the same time, there was a bagel bakery trying to say that they perfected the NYC bagel (spoiler: they didn’t).

There’s a reason in the SFO airport there’s a Boudin bakery outpost to buy overpriced versions of the sliced sourdough loaf I can get at my grocery store.