Holy wah, you're openin' a can of worms dere!
(That's some upper Michigan dialect for "yes, there are.")
The cost of living will vary widely between different parts of the country, and sometimes even between different parts of the same state.
Different accents? It's been estimated that there are over 300 different regional accents in the US, but you only hear three on TV or in movies: the Southern California monotone, the husky New York, and a generic hillbilly accent.
There are a lot of similarities in some aspects of law, but in others, the differences are as stark as freedom and slavery. A case in point is laws involving the purchase of firearms. In Vermont, a person of legal age can go to any gun store, pick out something he likes, and walk out with it the same day. In the neighboring states of Massachusetts and New York, that same person would have to wait anywhere from six to twenty-four months to get permission to make such a purchase. Guess which two states have the higher crime rates? (It's not Vermont.)
Another issue on which states have sharply differing opinions is gay marriage. In Massachusetts, it's legal. In most of the surrounding states, except maybe Connecticut, it's currently illegal.
Additionally, the different states have different attitudes regarding labor unions in the workplace. The northeastern states generally have a lot of unionists, while the southern states don't. The southern states are the ones which are in a better position to ride out the current economic trouble.
And the weather is certainly different. When we were shivering at 20 degrees below zero in Michigan (cold enough that the scale is irrelevant), Florida was in the 50's and 60's (Fahrenheit.)
Are there differences? Believe it.
