Flyover country and flyover states are Americanisms describing the region of the United States between the East and the West Coasts. The terms, which are often used in a pejorative sense, refer to the regions of the country passed over during transcontinental flights—e.g., flights between the nation's two largest cities, New York City and Los Angeles. Flyover country thus refers to the part of the country that many Americans only view by air and never actually see in person at ground level.
When the term flyover states is used, it most commonly refers to the midwestern states. This is because much of this region is sparsely populated relative to the coasts and tend to be mostly rural, thus much less likely to be traveling destinations or starting points. Yet many domestic flights have to fly over these states due to their geographic placement while relatively fewer actually take-off or land in these areas.