<<Up     Contents

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" (MAs). If an MA is large enough and can be subdivided into meaningful sub-metropolitan areas, then the MA is considered a "Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area" (CMSA), with each subdivision called a "Primary Metropolitan Statistical Area" (PMSA). The largest MAs in the United States are all CMSAs.

The following is a list of the top metropolitan areas in the United States, according to the 2000 census:

Metropolitan Area States Type Population Local nickname
New York--Northern New Jersey--Long Island NY--NJ--CT--PA CMSA 21,199,865
Los Angeles--Riverside County--Orange County CA CMSA 16,373,645 The Southland
Chicago--Gary--Kenosha IL--IN--WI CMSA 9,157,540 Chicagoland
Washington--Baltimore DC--MD--VA--WV CMSA 7,608,070
San Francisco--Oakland--San Jose CA CMSA 7,039,362 The Bay Area
Philadelphia--Wilmington--Atlantic City PA--NJ--DE--MD CMSA 6,188,463
Boston--Worcester--Lawrence MA--NH--ME--CT CMSA 5,819,100
Detroit--Ann Arbor--Flint MI CMSA 5,456,428 Metro Detroit
Dallas--Fort Worth TX CMSA 5,221,801 The Metroplex
Houston--Galveston--Brazoria TX CMSA 4,669,571
Atlanta GA MSA 4,112,198
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 MSA 2,968,806 The Twin Cities

See also Demographics of the United States

     External Resources