Combined statistical area in the context of "Philadelphia metropolitan area"

New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States. It is located at the southern tip of New York State on New York Harbor, one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive with its respective county. It is the geographical and demographic center of both the Northeast megalopolis and the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the United States by both population and urban area. New York is a global center of finance and commerce, culture, technology, entertainment and media, academics and scientific output, the arts and fashion, and, as home to the headquarters of the United Nations, international diplomacy.

With an estimated population in July 2024 of 8,478,072, distributed over 300.46 square miles (778.2 km), the city is the most densely populated major city in the United States. New York City has more than double the population of Los Angeles, the country's second-most populous city. Over 20.1 million people live in New York City's metropolitan statistical area and 23.5 million in its combined statistical area as of 2020, both the largest in the U.S. New York City is one of the world's most populous megacities. The city and its metropolitan area are the premier gateway for legal immigration to the United States. An estimated 800 languages are spoken in New York City, making it the most linguistically diverse city in the world. The New York City metropolitan region is home to the largest foreign-born population of any metropolitan region in the world, approximately 5.9 million as of 2023.

St. Louis (/seɪnt ˈluːɪs, sənt-/ saynt LOO-iss, sənt-, sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while its metropolitan area, which extends into Illinois, had an estimated population of over 2.8 million. It is the largest metropolitan area in Missouri and the second-largest in Illinois. The city's combined statistical area is the 20th-largest in the United States.

The land that became St. Louis had been occupied by Native American cultures for thousands of years before European settlement. The city was founded on February 14, 1764, by French fur traders Gilbert Antoine de St. Maxent, Pierre Laclède, and Auguste Chouteau. They named it for King Louis IX of France, and it quickly became the regional center of the French Illinois Country. In 1804, the United States acquired St. Louis as part of the Louisiana Purchase. In the 19th century, St. Louis developed as a major port on the Mississippi River; from 1870 until the 1920 census, it was the fourth-largest city in the country. It separated from St. Louis County in 1877, becoming an independent city and limiting its political boundaries. In 1904, it hosted the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, also known as the St. Louis World's Fair, and the Summer Olympics.

In the United States, a principal city is the largest incorporated place with a population of at least 10,000 in a core-based statistical area (CBSA) or New England city and town area (NECTA), or if no incorporated place of least 10,000 population is present in the CBSA or NECTA, the largest incorporated place or census designated place (CDP) in the CBSA or NECTA. Additional places that meet specific criteria are also identified as principal cities. The title of each metropolitan or micropolitan statistical area consists of the names of up to three of its principal cities and the name of each state into which the metropolitan or micropolitan statistical area extends.

In the United States and Puerto Rico, the Office of Management and Budget identifies principal cities for each core-based statistical area (CBSA) and New England city and town area (NECTA). Principal cities are used primarily for naming CBSAs and NECTAs, as well as combined statistical areas and combined NECTAs.

The New York metropolitan area, also called the Tri-State area and sometimes referred to as Greater New York or Metro New York, is the largest metropolitan economy in the world, with a gross metropolitan product of over US$2.6 trillion. It is also the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass, encompassing 4,669.0 sq mi (12,093 km). Among the most populous metro areas in the world, New York is the largest metropolitan statistical area in the United States and the only one with more than 20 million residents, according to the 2020 U.S. Census.

The core of this vast area, the New York metropolitan statistical area, includes New York City and much of Downstate New York (Long Island as well as the mid- and lower Hudson Valley), northern and central New Jersey (including that state's eleven largest municipalities), and Southwestern Connecticut. The phrase Tri-State area is used to refer to the larger urbanized area of Downstate New York, northern New Jersey, and western Connecticut. The urban region's combined statistical area, the New York–Newark, NY–NJ–CT–PA combined statistical area, spans four states.

A core-based statistical area (CBSA) is a U.S. geographic area defined by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). It contains a large population nucleus, or urban area, and adjacent communities that have a high degree of integration with that nucleus.

On July 15, 2015, the OMB released new standards based on the 2010 census. These standards are used to replace the definitions of metropolitan areas from the 2010 United States census data.

The San Juan–Bayamón–Caguas metropolitan area, most commonly known as the San Juan metropolitan area (Spanish: área metropolitana de San Juan), is the largest and most populous metropolitan statistical area (MSA) in Puerto Rico, concentrated in the capital municipality of San Juan and surrounding municipalities, including Bayamón, Caguas, and Carolina, on the northeastern coastal plain of the main island. One of 6 metropolitan statistical areas in Puerto Rico, it is within the San Juan–Bayamón combined statistical area (CSA), which is one of 3 primary statistical areas in the archipelago as defined by the United States Census Bureau. As of 2023, the estimated population of the San Juan–Bayamón–Caguas metropolitan area is 842,535 in municipalities in the conurbation and 1,193,198 in municipalities outside the urban core, making it the fourth largest in the insular Caribbean.

Greater Los Angeles is the most populous metropolitan area in the U.S. state of California, encompassing five counties in Southern California extending from Ventura County in the west to San Bernardino County and Riverside County in the east, with the city of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County at its center, and Orange County to the southeast. The Los Angeles–Long Beach combined statistical area (CSA) covers 33,954 square miles (87,940 km), making it the largest metropolitan region in the United States by land area. The contiguous urban area is 2,281 square miles (5,910 km), whereas the remainder mostly consists of mountain and desert areas. With an estimated population of over 18.3 million (U.S. Census Bureau, 2023), it is the second-largest metropolitan area in the country, behind New York, as well as one of the largest megacities in the world.

In addition to being the nexus of the global entertainment industry, including films, television, and recorded music, Greater Los Angeles is also an important center of international trade, education, media, business, tourism, technology, and sports. It is the third-largest metropolitan area by nominal GDP in the world with an economy exceeding $1 trillion in output, behind New York City and Tokyo.

Los Angeles (LA) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Southern California. With an estimated 3.88 million residents within the city limits as of 2024, it is the second-most populous city in the United States, behind New York City. Los Angeles has an ethnically and culturally diverse population, and is the principal city of a metropolitan area of 12.9 million people (2024). Greater Los Angeles, a combined statistical area that includes the Los Angeles and Riverside–San Bernardino metropolitan areas, is a sprawling metropolis of over 18.5 million residents.

The majority of the city proper lies in the Los Angeles Basin adjacent to the Pacific Ocean in the west and extending partly through the Santa Monica Mountains and north into the San Fernando Valley, with the city bordering the San Gabriel Valley to its east. It covers about 469 square miles (1,210 km), and is the county seat and most populated city of Los Angeles County, which is the most populous county in the United States with an estimated 9.86 million residents as of 2022. It is the third-most visited city in the U.S. with over 2.7 million visitors as of 2023.