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--Long Island
| NY--NJ--CT--PA
| CMSA
| 21,199,865
| Tri-state Area, New York area, Greater New York
|
|
Los Angeles--Riverside County--Orange County (Greater Los Angeles Area)
| CA
| CMSA
| 16,373,645
| Southern California, The Southland
|
|
Chicago--Joliet--Naperville--Gary--Kenosha
| IL--IN--WI
| CMSA
| 9,157,540
| Chicagoland
|
|
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
|
|
| Phoenix--Mesa
| AZ
| MSA
| 3,251,876
|
|
| Minneapolis--St. Paul
| MN, WI
| MSA
| 2,968,806
| The Twin Cities
|
See also Demographics of the United States, List of metropolitan areas by population.
External Resources
