United States metropolitan area
In the United States, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has produced a formal definition of metropolitan areas, which are organized around county boundaries (except in New England, where cities and towns are more significant than counties as geographical and political units.) These are referred to as "Metropolitan Statistical Areas" (MSAs). If an MSA is large enough and can be subdivided into meaningful sub-metropolitan areas, then the MSA is considered a "Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area" (CMSA), with each subdivision called a "Primary Metropolitan Statistical Area" (PMSA). The largest MSAs in the United States are all CMSAs.
In 2003, further adjustments were made to the definition of metro areas, information about it is available on the core based statistical area entry.
The following is a list of the top metropolitan areas in the United States, according to the 2000 census:
| Metropolitan Area
| States
| Type
| Population
| Other names
|
|
New York--Northern New Jersey (Jersey City, Trenton, Newark)--Long Island--Bridgeport--New Haven
| NY--NJ--CT--PA
| CMSA
| 21,199,865
| Tri-state Area, New York area, Greater New York
|
|
Los Angeles--Riverside County--San Bernardino County--Orange County
| CA
| CMSA
| 16,373,645
| The Southland, Southern California (The latter also refers to the entire southern portion of the state)
|
|
Chicago--Joliet--Naperville--Gary--Kenosha
| IL--IN--WI
| CMSA
| 9,157,540
| Chicagoland, Greater Chicago, Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana (the latter refers to the eastern part extended until South Bend, Indiana)
|
|
Washington--Baltimore
| DC--MD--VA--WV
| CMSA
| 7,608,070
| Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area
|
|
San Jose--San Francisco--Oakland
| CA
| CMSA
| 7,039,362
| The Bay Area
|
|
Philadelphia--Wilmington--Atlantic City
| PA--NJ--DE--MD
| CMSA
| 6,188,463
| The Delaware Valley
|
| Boston--Worcester--Lawrence
| MA--NH--ME--CT
| CMSA
| 5,819,100
| Greater Boston
|
| Detroit--Ann Arbor--Flint
| MI
| CMSA
| 5,456,428
| Metro Detroit
|
| Dallas--Fort Worth--Arlington
| TX
| CMSA
| 5,221,801
| The Metroplex
|
| Houston--Galveston--Brazoria--Baytown--Sugar Land
| TX
| CMSA
| 4,669,571
| Houston Metropolitan Area
|
| Atlanta
| GA
| MSA
| 4,112,198
| Atlanta Metropolitan Area
|
| Miami--Ft. Lauderdale
| FL
| CMSA
| 3,876,380
|
|
| Seattle--Tacoma--Bremerton
| WA
| CMSA
| 3,554,760
| Greater Puget Sound
|
| Phoenix--Mesa
| AZ
| MSA
| 3,251,876
| The Valley of the Sun
|
| Minneapolis--St. Paul
| MN, WI
| MSA
| 2,968,806
| The Twin Cities
|
| St. Louis--East St. Louis
| MO, IL
| CMSA
| 2,603,607
| Greater St. Louis
|
| Pittsburgh--New Castle
| PA
| MSA
| 2,512,302
|
| Cincinnati--Hamilton
| OH, KY, IN
| CMSA
|
| Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky
|
See also Demographics of the United States, List of metropolitan areas by population, List of regions of the United States
External Resources
Referenced By
Atlanta Metropolitan Area | Atlanta metro area | Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area | Bay area | Bayarean | Big cities | Bureau of the Census | Census Bureau | Charleston, South Carolina | Chicago Metropolitan Area | Chicagoland | Core based statistical area | Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex | Dallas/Fort Worth Metropolitan Area | Delaware Valley | Demographics of the United States | Denver | Denver, CO | Denver, Colorado | Denver County, Colorado | Greater Chicago | Greater Los Angeles Area | Greater New York | Houston Metropolitan Area | Houston Metropolitian Area | Largest cities of the world | List of California-related topics | List of metropolitan areas by population | List of regions in the United States | List of regions of the United States | List of subnational entities | Los Angeles Metropolitan Area | Metroplex | Metropolitan area | New York Metropolitan Area | Regions of the United States | San Francisco Bay Area | The Delaware Valley | The Southland | U.S. Census Bureau | US Census | US Census Bureau | United States/People | United States Bureau of the Census | United States Census Bureau | United States Federal Census | United States of America/People | Washington, DC Metro Area
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