Metropolitan Area

Urbanized area in and around a major city. The metropolitan area may overlap county and state boundaries and may encompass a city, its suburbs, and the orbit of its social and economic influence. For example, the New York metropolitan area is the largest overlapping portion of the states of New Jersey and Connecticut as well as numerous counties and has more than 18 million people. The New York metropolitan area is followed in size by Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, and Philadelphia.