Philadelphia Area

The Philadelphia metropolitan area, also known as Greater Philadelphia and informally called the Delaware Valley, the Philadelphia tri-state area, and locally and colloquially Philly–Jersey–Delaware, is a major metropolitan area in the Northeastern United States that centers on Philadelphia, the sixth-most populous city in the United States. This area spans up to four states: southeastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, northern Delaware, and the northern Eastern Shore of Maryland, though it is sometimes considered a tri-state region if northeastern Maryland is excluded. With a core metropolitan statistical area population of 6.245 million residents and a combined statistical area population of 7.379 million as of the 2020 census, it is the seventh-largest metropolitan region in the United States in 2024 and the 68th-largest metropolitan region in the world.

In addition to Philadelphia, other major population centers in the Philadelphia metro area include Reading, Upper Darby Township, and Chester in Pennsylvania; Atlantic City, Camden, Vineland, and Cherry Hill in South Jersey; and Wilmington and Dover in Delaware. As of 2023, the Philadelphia metro area's gross domestic product (GDP) exceeds US$557 billion, making it the nation's 11th-largest metropolitan economy.

The Philadelphia metropolitan area has been influential in the nation's history and economy and home to many people and sites significant to American culture, history, and politics. Philadelphia is sometimes known as "The Birthplace of America" in reference to its role as the revolutionary capital during the colonial era in which the Second Continental Congress gathered at Independence Hall and unanimously adopted the Declaration of Independence, authorized the formation of the Continental Army, and appointed George Washington its commander to resist the British. After the Continental Army's victory, Philadelphia served as the nation's first capital for most of the 18th century until 1800, when construction of Washington, D.C. was completed. The U.S. Constitution, the world's longest-standing body of federal law, was ratified at Independence Hall in Philadelphia in 1789.

The metro area is one of the nation's leading regions for academia and academic research with a considerable number of globally-known and highly ranked universities, including the University of Pennsylvania, one of the nation's eight Ivy League universities. Other major universities and colleges in the region include Drexel University, La Salle University, Rowan University, Rutgers University–Camden, Saint Joseph's University, Stockton University, Temple University, Thomas Jefferson University, the University of Delaware, Villanova University, West Chester University, and others.

Philadelphia and larger Delaware Valley are a biotechnology hub. As of 2024, metropolitan Philadelphia ranks as one of the Big Five U.S. venture capital hubs, facilitated by its proximity to both New York City's entrepreneurial and financial ecosystems and to the federal regulatory environment of Washington, D.C. Elsewhere in the metropolitan area, South Jersey has emerged as an East Coast epicenter for logistics and major warehouses.

Culturally, the region is home to the dialect known as Philadelphia English, shares a unique cuisine known as Philadelphia cuisine, has played a formidable role in popular music, and is known for having one of the nation's most passionate and devoted sports cultures centered around its five professional sports teams.

Geography and population

The Philadelphia metropolitan area is geographically associated and proximate to the Delaware River and its three primary tributaries, the Schuylkill River, Lehigh River, and Brandywine Creek.

U.S. government agencies have reached various definitions of metropolitan Philadelphia. 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)

As of the 2020 U.S. census, the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington Metropolitan Statistical Area is the seventh-largest MSA in the nation with 6,245,051 people. The MSA includes:
* Camden, NJ Metropolitan Division
** Burlington County (NJ)
** Camden County (NJ)
** Gloucester County (NJ)
* Philadelphia, PA Metropolitan Division
** Bucks County (PA)
** Chester County (PA)
** Delaware County (PA)
** Montgomery County (PA)
** Philadelphia County (PA)
* Wilmington, DE-NJ Metropolitan Division
** New Castle County (DE)
** Salem County (NJ)
** Cecil County (MD)

Combined statistical area (CSA)

As of 2020, the Philadelphia–Reading–Camden, PA-NJ-DE-MD CSA is the nation's ninth-largest combined statistical area with a population of 7,379,700. Philadelphia-Reading-Camden Combined Statistical Area includes:
* Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington MSA (11 counties, as defined above)
* Berks County, Pennsylvania, comprising the Reading, PA MSA
* Atlantic County, New Jersey, comprising the Ocean City, NJ MSA
* Cumberland County, New Jersey, comprising the Dover, DE MSA

Statistical history

When metropolitan areas were originally defined in 1950, most of this urban area was split between four metropolitan areas, or standard metropolitan areas, as they were then called. The Philadelphia SMA included Philadelphia, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery counties in Pennsylvania, and Burlington, Camden, and Gloucester counties in South Jersey. The Wilmington SMA included New Castle County in Delaware and Salem County in South Jersey. Berks County was designated as the Reading SMA and Atlantic County, New Jersey was added to what was now the Wilmington Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area (SMSA). In 1980, Cumberland County, New Jersey was added to the Atlantic City SMSA. The "Philadelphia-Wilmington-Trenton" became obsolete one census later when Trenton, New Jersey was moved to the New York-Newark-Bridgeport CSA. The Philadelphia-Wilmington-Vineland CSA included the Philadelphia-Wilmington-Camden MSA and the Vineland-Millville-Bridgeton MSA.

In 2000, Kent County, Delaware was designated the Dover MSA, and Kent County and Atlantic City were added to the Philadelphia CSA in 2010. As a result of new 2010 definitions, based on a threshold of 15% labor interchange between MSAs, two additional MSAs were added, Ocean City, New Jersey and Reading, Pennsylvania. The CSA to which they belong is known as Philadelphia-Reading-Camden.

Climate Types

All of it is Humid Subtropical
File:Köppen Climate Types Maryland.png, Maryland Köppen Climate Types
File:Köppen Climate Types Pennsylvania.png, Pennsylvania Köppen Climate Types Pennsylvania
File:Köppen Climate Types Delaware.png, Delaware Köppen Climate Types
File:Köppen Climate Types New Jersey.png, New Jersey Köppen Climate Types

Subregions

The Philadelphia-Reading-Camden combined statistical area includes sixteen counties in four states. The five Pennsylvania counties in the metropolitan statistical area are collectively known as Southeastern Pennsylvania. In addition to 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 occasionally not considered to be part of Southeastern Pennsylvania and is sometimes assigned to South Central Pennsylvania.

The seven New Jersey counties in the CSA are in South Jersey. Atlantic County, Cape May County, and Cumberland County each form their own respective metropolitan statistical areas. Atlantic City, Cape May County, New Jersey, and the southern Jersey Shore, including Margate City, Ventnor City, the Wildwoods, and Sea Isle City, are major tourist destinations for people from inside and outside of the metropolitan area. Other major municipalities in South Jersey include Cherry Hill and Camden, which is across the Delaware River, east of Philadelphia. Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, and Salem Counties comprise the Delaware River Region, one of seven officially recognized tourism regions by the New Jersey Department of Tourism.

The two counties of Delaware in the CSA constitute a majority of Delaware's land mass and population. Wilmington is the most populous city in Delaware and the fifth-most populous municipality in the metropolitan Philadelphia. The lone Maryland county in the Philadelphia-Reading-Camden Combined Statistical Area is part of the region known as the Eastern Shore of Maryland.

Ethnically, Indians make up the largest foreign-born population in Greater Philadelphia.

Largest municipalities

The following municipalities are all within the Philadelphia-Reading-Camden combined statistical area and part of the Delaware Valley:

Climate

The Philadelphia metro area has four distinct seasons with ample precipitation and is divided by the 0 °C (32 °F) January isotherm. Philadelphia and the New Jersey portion of the area, almost all of the Delaware and Maryland portions, most of Delaware County and lower Bucks County, lowland southern Chester County, and some southern and lowland areas of Montgomery County have a humid subtropical climate (''Cfa'' according to the Köppen climate classification.) The remainder of the metro area has a hot summer humid continental climate (''Dfa''.
PRISM Climate Group at Oregon State University

Snow amounts may vary widely year-to-year and normally do vary widely within metro Philadelphia. The region has two ski resorts, Bear Creek Mountain Resort in Longswamp Township, Berks County and Spring Mountain Adventures in central Montgomery County.

Using the -3 °C January isotherm as a boundary, all of the metro area is humid subtropical. The hardiness zone in the region ranges from 6b in higher areas of Berks and northern Bucks Counties to 8a in Atlantic City and Cape May


Using the Trewartha climate classification system, which requires eight months to average at least 50 °F for the climate to be considered subtropical, the region only has seven such months, so the area considered ''Cfa'' by Köppen is oceanic (''Do'') in the Trewartha system.

Economy

As of 2021, the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington Metropolitan Statistical Area has a gross domestic product of $477.58 billion, the tenth-largest among the nation's MSAs. The MSA's nominal gross domestic product of $431 billion is comparable to countries, such as Belgium, Iran, and Thailand. Metropolitan Philadelphia is one of the top five American venture capital hubs, credited to its proximity to the New York metropolitan area and its financial and tech and biotechnology ecosystems.

At least two educational institutions, Delaware Valley Regional High School in Alexandria Township, New Jersey, and Delaware Valley College in Doylestown Township, Pennsylvania, and a now defunct local newspaper, ''The Delaware Valley News'' in
Frenchtown, New Jersey, are named for the region.

Delaware Regional Planning Commission

The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) serves all of the counties of the Philadelphia MSA except for the counties in the Wilmington, DE-MD-NJ Metropolitan Division. However, in addition to the metropolitan area, DVRPC's jurisdiction includes Mercer County, New Jersey, which OMB classifies as the Trenton-Princeton, NJ MSA and part of the larger New York-Newark CSA.

Colonial history

The valley was the territory of the Susquehannock and Lenape, who are recalled in place names throughout the region. The region became part of the Dutch colony of New Netherland after the exploration of Delaware Bay in 1609. The Dutch called the Delaware River the ''Zuyd Rivier'', or South River, and considered the lands along it banks and those of its bay to be the southern flank of its province of New Netherland. In 1638, it began to be settled by Swedes, Forest Finns, Dutch, and Walloons and became the colony of New Sweden, though this was not officially recognized by the Dutch Empire which re-asserted control in 1655. The area was taken by the English in 1664.
The name Delaware comes from Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, who had arrived at Jamestown, Virginia in 1610, just as original settlers were about to abandon it, and thus maintaining the English foothold on the North American continent. In the early 1700s, Huguenot refugees from France by way of Germany and then England began settling in the Delaware River Valley. Specifically, they left their mark in Hunterdon County, New Jersey

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