What is a metropolitan area? How the Census draws the lines around 95% of Americans
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The New York metro area holds 20.1 million people across 22 counties in three states. The city of New York holds about 8.5 million of them. When a news story says a metro area grew or shrank, it is talking about the larger thing, and the difference between the two is often the whole point of the story.
A metropolitan area is a group of whole counties tied together by commuting. The rules come from the Office of Management and Budget, and the Census Bureau applies them. A county qualifies as the core if it contains an urban area of 50,000 or more people. Neighboring counties join it when enough of their workers commute into the core, or enough core workers commute out to them.
The official name is core-based statistical area, or CBSA, and it covers two sizes:
- Metropolitan statistical areas are built around an urban core of 50,000 or more. There are 387 of them.
- Micropolitan statistical areas are built around an urban core of 10,000 to 50,000. There are 538.
Together the 925 areas contain 1,844 of the country's 3,144 counties and 323.8 million of its 341.8 million residents, about 95 percent. The 1,300 counties left out are rural ones with no qualifying urban core.
| Metro area | Population, 2025 |
|---|---|
| New York | 20,112,448 |
| Los Angeles | 12,844,441 |
| Chicago | 9,434,123 |
| Dallas | 8,477,157 |
| Houston | 7,904,627 |
| Atlanta | 6,482,182 |
| Washington | 6,465,724 |
| Miami | 6,391,072 |
| Philadelphia | 6,329,118 |
| Phoenix | 5,228,938 |
Why the boundaries look strange
Because metros are built from whole counties, they pick up a lot of countryside. Atlanta's metro area spans 29 counties, more than any other in the country, and stretches far past what an out of town visitor would call Atlanta. Washington's covers 23 counties in four states plus the District. New York's 22 counties reach into New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
The county rule also means a metro area can cross state lines, which is why the official names carry state abbreviations. Philadelphia's metro touches Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland.
At the small end, the smallest micropolitan areas hold barely more people than a single suburb. Town of Pecos, Texas, has 12,138 residents, Vernon, Texas, has 12,481, and Ketchikan, Alaska, has 13,549.
When to use a metro instead of a city
City limits are political lines, and they vary wildly. Jacksonville's city limits cover an entire county, while Atlanta's hold a small fraction of its urban area. That makes city-to-city comparisons misleading. Metro figures cover the whole labor market, which is why economists use them for jobs, housing, and growth.
The tradeoff is that a metro number can hide a shrinking core inside a growing suburban ring, or the reverse. For questions about a specific place, the city or county figure is the right one.
Our metro rankings are at the largest metro areas by population, and there is a written version in the largest metro areas in the US. For the other Census geographies, see what a census tract is and the largest ZIP codes in America.
Sources
Delineations are from the Office of Management and Budget's core-based statistical area definitions, as applied by the U.S. Census Bureau. Population figures are Vintage 2025 Population Estimates, aggregated from the counties that currently make up each area. OMB revises the delineations after each decennial census and issues interim updates, so an area's county list and population can change without any actual movement of people. County counts here include county equivalents such as Louisiana parishes and independent cities.
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What is a metropolitan statistical area?
It is a group of whole counties centered on an urban area of at least 50,000 people, with surrounding counties added when enough workers commute between them. The Office of Management and Budget sets the rules and the Census Bureau applies them. There are 387 metro areas.
What is the difference between a metro and a micropolitan area?
Size of the urban core. Metropolitan areas are built around a core of 50,000 or more, micropolitan areas around a core of 10,000 to 50,000. There are 387 metro and 538 micropolitan areas, and together they are called core-based statistical areas.
Why do metro areas cross state lines?
Because they are defined by commuting, not by political boundaries. Workers cross state lines every day, so the county groups follow them. The New York metro reaches into New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and the Philadelphia metro touches four states.
