It seems to me that most of the farming and plantations were located in the South. It seems to me that it would make much more sense for more American cities to develop in South where goods could much more easily be traded between the Caribbean, and the Americas. The brutal weather of the North seems another reason for cities to also not be set up there, however, instead we saw tons (most cities) built in the North.
The south had much better growing conditions for farming than the north did. The southern colonies were established for profit and when they didn't find gold they farmed. The proto south relied heavily on tobacco for income as they were very popular in Europe. plantations were established and became somewhat self relent having slaves for labor. The colonist in the north came to practice their extremist form of Christianity (that may be a little biased on my part they wanted freedom to practice). when the colonies became profitable for England the north didn't form big plantations Samuel Eliot Morison theorized that the heavy work of the pilgrims and puritans made for many small farms mostly subsistence farming (I'm skipping a few dots there but that's the big picture). New England later formed a timber industry and began shipbuilding and became the center for trade leading to large amounts of migration.
I know that's a quick answer but I'm at work
The Oxford History of the American People.