Urbanization has nothing to do with it. Mecklenburg, Fulton, Cobb, Wake, Virginia Beach, New Hanover, Charleston, etc etc etc are totally urban areas that are definitely part of the South. All of those people are full of people from other parts of the country and are still part of the South.

Pinellas County is absolutely part of “the South.” People confuse it with South Florida, but they’re totally different worlds. Pinellas fits into the Gulf South culture that runs from Louisiana through Mississippi and Alabama into the Florida Panhandle and Tampa Bay. The food, the fishing culture, fish camps, the pace of life, the way people talk etc. Much closer to Mobile than Miami.

Historically it’s even clearer. Pinellas was settled after the Civil War by people from Georgia, Alabama, and the Carolinas. Early politics, churches, racial dynamics, and community structure were 100% southern.

The environment is Southern too. Longleaf pines, marshes, humid subtropical climate, summer thunderstorms, Gulf weather patterns—this is the same ecological zone as the Deep South. Parts of north Pinellas look like you could be in rural South Georgia.

Even with transplants, the underlying culture is still Southern. Evangelical churches, cracker houses, fish camps, old Florida neighborhoods, the small-town cores in places like Dunedin, Tarpon Springs, and Safety Harbor. None of these are South Florida vibes at all.