The Monterrey metropolitan area (Spanish: Área Metropolitana de la Ciudad de Monterrey), also known as Greater Monterrey, is a conurbation in the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo León, centered on the city of Monterrey. It is the second-largest metropolitan area in Mexico by population, with an estimated 5,341,177 inhabitants as of 2020. The region serves as a major industrial and economic hub for the country.
Monterrey (MON-tə-RAY; Spanish: [monteˈrej] ) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo León. The city anchors the Monterrey metropolitan area, the second-largest metropolitan area in Mexico, after Greater Mexico City with a population of 5,341,171 people as of 2020 and it is also the second-most productive metropolitan area in Mexico with a GDP (PPP) of US$140 billion in 2015. According to the 2020 census, Monterrey itself has a population of 1,142,194.Located at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental, Monterrey is a major business and industrial hub in Mexico and Latin America.
Monterrey is considered one of the most livable cities in Mexico, and a 2018 study ranked the suburb of San Pedro Garza García as the city with the best quality of life in the country. It serves as a commercial center of northern Mexico and is the base of many significant international corporations. Its purchasing power parity-adjusted GDP per capita is considerably higher than the rest of Mexico's at around US$35,500, compared to the country's US$18,800. It is considered a Beta World City, cosmopolitan and competitive. Rich in history and culture, it is one of the most developed cities in Mexico.
Nuevo León, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Nuevo León, is a state in northeastern Mexico. The state borders the Mexican states of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, Zacatecas, and San Luis Potosi, and has an extremely narrow international border with the U.S. state of Texas. Covering 64,156 square kilometers (24,771 square miles) and with a population of 5.78 million people, Nuevo León is the thirteenth-largest federal entity by area and the seventh-most populous as of 2020.
Monterrey, the state's capital, is the most populous city in Nuevo León and the ninth-largest in Mexico. Monterrey is part of the Monterrey metropolitan area, the second-largest metropolitan area in the country with an estimated population of 5.3 million people in 2020. About 92% of the state's population lives in the metropolitan area.