United States metropolitan area

   

pl:Obszary metropolitalne w USA

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 25 most populated metropolitan areas in the United States, according to the 2000 Census:

Rank Metropolitan Area States/Territories Type Population Other names*</small>
1

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
2

Los Angeles--Riverside--Orange County

CA CMSA 16,373,645 The Southland, Southern California (The latter also refers to the entire southern portion of the state)
3

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)
4

Washington--Baltimore

DC--MD--VA--WV CMSA 7,608,070 Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area
5

San Francisco--Oakland--San Jose

CA CMSA 7,039,362 The Bay Area
6

Philadelphia--Wilmington--Atlantic City

PA--NJ--DE--MD CMSA 6,188,463 The Delaware Valley
7 Boston--Worcester--Lawrence MA--NH--ME--CT CMSA 5,819,100 Greater Boston
8 Detroit--Ann Arbor--Flint** MI CMSA 5,456,428 Metro Detroit
9 Dallas--Fort Worth--Arlington TX CMSA 5,221,801 The Metroplex, DFW
10 Houston--Galveston--Brazoria--Baytown--Sugar Land TX CMSA 4,669,571 Houston Metropolitan Area
11 Atlanta GA MSA 4,112,198 Atlanta Metropolitan Area
12 Miami--Ft. Lauderdale FL CMSA 3,876,380 South Florida metropolitan area
13 Seattle--Tacoma--Bremerton WA CMSA 3,554,760 Greater Puget Sound
14 Phoenix--Mesa AZ MSA 3,251,876 The Valley of the Sun
15 Minneapolis--St. Paul MN, WI MSA 2,968,806 The Twin Cities
16 Cleveland--Akron OH CMSA 2,945,831 Greater Cleveland, Northeast Ohio
17 San Diego CA MSA 2,813,833  
18 St. Louis MO, IL MSA 2,603,607 Greater St. Louis
19 Denver--Boulder--Greeley CO CMSA 2,581,506  
20 San Juan--Caguas--Arecibo PR CMSA 2,450,292  
21 Tampa--St. Petersburg--Clearwater FL MSA 2,395,997 Tampa Bay Area
22 Pittsburgh--New Castle PA MSA 2,512,302  
23 Portland--Salem--Vancouver OR, WA CMSA 1,979,202 &nbsp
24 Cincinnati--Hamilton OH, KY, IN CMSA 1,979,202 Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky
25 Sacramento--Yolo County CA CMSA 1,796,857  

* Not necessarily equivalent to the Census definition of the metropolitan area.
** This is the metropolitan area of Detroit within US borders. A larger metropolitan area containing the Windsor, Ontario area is used internationally.

See also

External links

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