Brain Game: East Side

Today's Brain Game depicts a map of (roughly) the eastern half of the United States. Certain states have been highlighted in yellow. Can you determine what they have in common? (Hint: it has nothing to do with geography; try to identify the highlighted states by name.) Good luck!

Here is the SOLUTION.

THE SOLUTION:

Each of the states highlighted appear in the names of Monopoly properties (in the U.S. edition, of course):

light blue properties:  Vermont Avenue, Connecticut Avenue
purple properties: Virginia Avenue
orange properties: Tennessee Avenue, New York Avenue
red properties: Kentucky Avenue, Indiana Avenue, Illinois Avenue
green properties: North Carolina Avenue, Pennsylvania Avenue*

* There's Pennsylvania Railroad, as well.