Washington Metropolitan Area

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It has been suggested that National Capital Region (United States) be merged into this article or section. (Discuss)

The Washington Metropolitan Area, formally known as the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV MSA is a U.S. Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) as defined by the United States Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as of November 2004. It is also part of the larger Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area. As of 2007, the population of the area is greater than 5 million.

1 Composition
2 Political Subdivisions
3 Principal Cities
4 City Definition in Virginia
5 See Also
6 External Links

[edit] Composition

The Washington Metropolitan Area includes the District of Columbia and parts of the States of Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia. It is divided into two metropolitan divisions: the Bethesda-Gaithersburg-Frederick, MD Metropolitan Division, consisting of Montgomery and Frederick counties; and the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metropolitan Division, comprising the majority of the metropolitan area.

The Virginia portion is known as Northern Virginia.

[edit] Political Subdivisions

Location within the USA

The area includes the following counties, districts, and independent cities:

[edit] District of Columbia

Washington

[edit] Maryland

[edit] Virginia

Counties:

Independent cities:

[edit] West Virginia

Jefferson County

[edit] Principal Cities

The metropolitan area includes the following principal cities (not all of which are incorporated as cities):

[edit] City Definition in Virginia

Due to a state constitutional change in 1871, all cities in Virginia are independent cities and they are not legally located in any county. The OMB considers these independent cities to be county-equivalents for the purpose of defining MSAs in Virginia. Each MSA is listed by its counties, then cities, each in alphabetical order, and not by size.