Delaware Valley

The Delaware Valley is a metropolitan region on the East Coast of the United States that comprises and surrounds Philadelphia, the sixth most populous city in the nation and 68th largest city in the world as of 2020. The toponym Delaware Valley is therefore commonly used to refer to Greater Philadelphia, the Philadelphia metropolitan area, or the Greater Philadelphia Metropolitan Area. The Delaware Valley region includes portions of four U.S. states: Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, and four regions in Southeastern Pennsylvania, South Jersey, northern Delaware, and the northern Eastern Shore of Maryland along the central and lower Delaware River. The Delaware Valley has a total 2020 population of 6.245 million, making it the seventh largest metropolitan region in the U.S. and 35th largest metropolitan region in the world.

Philadelphia is by far the largest municipality in the Delaware Valley and serves as the region's major commercial, cultural, educational, and industrial center. Other major urban population centers in the Delaware Valley include the cities of Reading, Upper Darby Township, and Chester in Pennsylvania; Atlantic City, Camden, Vineland, and Cherry Hill in New Jersey; and Wilmington and Dover in Delaware. The Delaware Valley Metropolitan Area is located in the Northeastern United States and forms part of the Northeast megalopolis, the most populated region of the nation with over 50 million residents. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the Philadelphia metropolitan area has a gross domestic product of $431 billion, the ninth-largest among U.S. metropolitan areas.

The Delaware Valley has been influential in American history and industry. The area has hosted many people and sites significant to American culture, history, and politics. Philadelphia is sometimes known as "The Birthplace of America", as both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were drafted and signed in Philadelphia. The Delaware Valley was home to many other instrumental moments in the American Revolution, and Philadelphia served as the capital of the U.S. for much of the 18th century.

The region is home to a number of globally-known and highly-ranked universities, including the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, one of the top universities in the world. Other regional universities and colleges include Drexel University, Thomas Jefferson University, Villanova University, Saint Joseph's University, Temple University, Rutgers University–Camden, La Salle University, the University of Delaware, Stockton University, and others. Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley have become a biotechnology and venture capital hub.

Geography

The Delaware Valley is geographically associated and proximate to the Delaware River's main watershed, which encompass the Delaware River's two primary tributaries, the Schuylkill and Lehigh Rivers, and their respective valleys and sub-basins. These extensions also apply culturally because the ease of land travel in the region affords a great deal of daily interaction, creating a regional culture and value structure that largely blends and is parallel throughout it.

Definitions of the metropolitan area

In the course of their work, United States government agencies have reached various definitions of the Delaware Valley and the Greater Philadelphia Area.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) defines metropolitan statistical area (MSAs), which are regions with relatively high population densities at their cores and close economic ties throughout their respective areas. MSAs are further combined into combined statistical areas (CSAs), reflecting commuting patterns. Neither is a formal administrative division.

Metropolitan statistical area (MSA)

Philadelphia is located in the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes:(Note: Mercer County, NJ is NOT part of the Philadelphia CSA according to this original source.
"Revised Delineations of Metropolitan Statistical Areas, Micropolitan Statistical Areas, and Combined Statistical Areas, and Guidance on Uses of the Delineations of These Areas", OMB Bulletin no. 18-04, The White House, Office of Management and Budget, September 4, 2018
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* Camden, NJ Metropolitan Division
** Burlington County
** Camden County
** Gloucester County
* Montgomery County-Bucks County-Chester County, PA Metropolitan Division
** Bucks County
** Chester County
** Montgomery County
* Philadelphia, PA Metropolitan Division
** Delaware County
** Philadelphia County
* Wilmington, DE-MD-NJ Metropolitan Division
** New Castle County, Delaware
** Cecil County, Maryland
** Salem County, New Jersey

Combined statistical area (CSA)

The Philadelphia-Reading-Camden Combined Statistical Area includes
* The Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington MSA (eleven counties, as defined above)
* Berks County, Pennsylvania, comprising the Reading, PA MSA
* Kent County, Delaware, comprising the Dover, DE MSA
* Atlantic County, New Jersey, comprising the Atlantic City-Hammonton, NJ MSA
* Cape May County, New Jersey, comprising the Ocean City, NJ MSA
* Cumberland County, New Jersey, comprising the Vineland-Bridgeton, NJ MSA

Counties not in the Philadelphia metropolitan area

Some counties to the north of the Philadelphia MSA and CSA, such as Hunterdon County, New Jersey, lie partly in the Delaware Valley as a geographic concept, that is, the drainage basin of the Delaware River. Local businesses and the Delaware Valley Regional High School carry the name. However, Hunterdon County does not belong to the Philadelphia CSA, but rather to the New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), part of the larger New York-Newark Combined Statistical Area (CSA).

Regional Planning Commission

The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) serves all of the counties of the MSA above, except for the counties in the Wilmington, DE-MD-NJ Metropolitan Division. However the DVRPC does include, additionally, Mercer County, New Jersey, which the OMB classifies as the Trenton-Princeton, NJ MSA, part of the larger New York-Newark CSA.

Population and economy

According to 2016 estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau, the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington Metropolitan Statistical Area ranks as the seventh-largest MSA in the U.S. with 6,070,500 people. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington MSA had a gross domestic product of $431 billion, the ninth-largest among U.S. metropolitan areas. 2016 Census Bureau estimates rank the Philadelphia-Reading-Camden Combined Statistical Area as the ninth-largest CSA in the U.S., with 7,179,357 people.

The Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington Metropolitan Statistical Area's population of roughly 6 million people is comparable to that of countries such as Lebanon, Denmark, and Nicaragua. The MSA's nominal gross domestic product of $431 billion is comparable to countries such as Belgium, Iran, and Thailand. The MSA also ranks as the second most populous in the Northeastern U.S. after the New York metropolitan area, while the CSA is third-largest in the Northeast after the New York and Boston metropolitan areas. The Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area, which is part of Northeast Megalopolis but is considered part of the Southeastern U.S. under Census Bureau definitions, is also larger than the Philadelphia metropolitan area. Philadelphia itself is the sixth-most populous city in the U.S. and the third-most populous U.S. city east of the Mississippi River, after New York City and Chicago. Philadelphia's media market ranks fourth, behind New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago, in Nielsen Media Market size rankings.

Educational institutions such as Delaware Valley Regional High School in Alexandria Township and Delaware Valley College in Doylestown Township are named after the region. Frenchtown's now defunct newspaper ''The Delaware Valley News'' was another example of the usage.

Subregions

Sixteen counties in four states constitute the Philadelphia-Reading-Camden Combined Statistical Area. The five Pennsylvania counties in the MSA are collectively known as Southeastern Pennsylvania, and the four suburban counties from this region are sometimes called the "collar counties." Aside from Philadelphia, major municipalities in Southeastern Pennsylvania include the inner suburbs of Upper Darby Township and Bensalem Township. Berks County, which forms its own MSA and contains the CSA's second largest city, Reading, is generally not considered to be part of Southeastern Pennsylvania and is sometimes assigned to South Central Pennsylvania.

The seven New Jersey counties in the CSA form South Jersey, although Ocean County, which is part of the New York CSA, is also sometimes considered to be part of South Jersey. Atlantic County, Cape May County, and Cumberland County each form their own respective metropolitan statistical areas. Atlantic City, Cape May County, and the southern Jersey Shore (including Margate City, Ventnor City