Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area

The Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area is a consolidated metropolitan area consisting of the overlapping labor market region of the cities of Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, Maryland. The region includes Central Maryland, Northern Virginia, and two counties in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia.

Officially, the area is designated by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as the Washington-Baltimore-Northern Virginia, DC-MD-VA-WV Combined Statistical Area (CSA). The CSA is composed primarily of two major metropolitan areas, the "Baltimore-Towson Metropolitan Statistical Area" (MSA) and the "Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV MSA". In addition, three other smaller urban areas not contiguous to the main urban area but having strong commuting ties with the main area are also included in the metropolitan area. These are the "Winchester, VA-WV MSA", the "Lexington Park, MD Micropolitan area" and the "Culpeper, VA Micropolitan area". Some counties and cities are not officially designated by the OMB as members of this metropolitan area, but still consider themselves members anyway. This is mostly due to their proximity to the area, the size of their commuter population, and by the influence of local broadcasting stations. The population of the entire Baltimore-Washington Metroplex as of 2007 is 8,241,912. [ [http://www.census.gov/popest/counties/tables/CO-EST2006-01-11.xls CO-EST2006-01-11.xls] ] [ [http://www.census.gov/popest/counties/tables/CO-EST2006-01-24.xls CO-EST2006-01-24.xls] ] [ [http://www.census.gov/popest/counties/tables/CO-EST2006-01-51.xls EST2006-01-51.xls] ] [ [http://www.census.gov/popest/counties/tables/CO-EST2006-01-54.xls CO-EST2006-01-54.xls] ] [ [http://www.census.gov/population/estimates/metro_general/List1.txt List1.txt] ] [ [http://www.census.gov/population/estimates/metro_general/List6.txt List6.txt] ] The most populated city is Baltimore, with a population of 637,455. The most populated county is Fairfax County, with a population exceeding 1 million.

Components of the metropolitan area

The counties and independent cities and their groupings that comprise the metropolitan area are listed below with 2004 Census Bureau estimates of their populations.

* Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV MSA (5,286,227)
main|Washington Metropolitan Area
** "Bethesda-Gaithersburg-Frederick, MD Metropolitan Division (1,287,005)"
*** Frederick County
*** Montgomery County, Maryland

** "Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metropolitan Division (4,131,158)"
*** Washington, D.C.
*** Calvert County, Maryland
*** Charles County, Maryland
*** Prince George's County, Maryland
*** Arlington County, Virginia
*** Clarke County, Virginia
*** Fairfax County, Virginia
*** Fauquier County, Virginia
*** Loudoun County, Virginia
*** Prince William County, Virginia
*** Spotsylvania County, Virginia
*** Stafford County, Virginia
*** Warren County, Virginia
*** Alexandria, Virginia
*** Fairfax, Virginia
*** Falls Church, Virginia
*** Fredericksburg, Virginia
*** Manassas, Virginia
*** Manassas Park, Virginia
*** Jefferson County, West Virginia

* Baltimore-Towson, MD MSA (2,658,405)
** Baltimore City
** Anne Arundel County
** Baltimore County
** Carroll County
** Harford County
** Howard County
** Queen Anne's County

*Hagerstown-Martinsburg, MD-WV MSA (261,198)"Main Article: Hagerstown Metropolitan Area"
**Washington County, Maryland
**Berkeley County, West Virginia

* Winchester, VA-WV MSA (118,932)
** Frederick County, Virginia
** Winchester city, Virginia
** Hampshire County, West Virginia

* Lexington Park, MD Micropolitan Area (98,854)
** Saint Mary's County

*Culpeper, VA Micropolitan Area (44,622)
** Culpeper County

List of principal cities

"See List of cities in the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area for a full list." [ [http://www.census.gov/population/www/metroareas/lists/2007/List2.txt U.S. Census Bureau - Principal cities of metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas] ]

Washington area

*Washington, D.C.
*Arlington, Virginia
*Alexandria, Virginia
*Reston, Virginia
*Bethesda, Maryland
*Frederick, Maryland
*Gaithersburg, Maryland
*Rockville, Maryland

Baltimore area

* Baltimore, Maryland
* Towson, Maryland

Economy

Primary industries

Biotechnology

Not limited to its proximity to the National Institutes of Health, Maryland's Washington suburbs are a major center for biotechnology. Prominent local biotech companies include MedImmune, United Therapeutics, The Institute for Genomic Research, Human Genome Sciences and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Defense contracting

Many defense contractors are based in the region to be close to the Pentagon in Arlington. Local defense contractors include Lockheed Martin, the largest, as well as General Dynamics, Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC), Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), and Orbital Sciences Corporation.

Notable company headquarters in the region

(Numbers denote Fortune 500 company ranking.)

Washington, D.C.

* Black Entertainment Television
* Bureau of National Affairs
* Calibre Energy
* Carlyle Group
* Danaher "239"
* Federal National Mortgage Association "Fannie Mae" "53"
* National Geographic Society
* Pepco Holdings, Inc. "279"
* Washington Post Company
* XM Satellite Radio

Maryland

Washington area:
* BAE Systems (Rockville)
* Bethesda Softworks (Rockville)
* Chevy Chase Bank (Bethesda)
* Choice Hotels (Silver Spring)
* Coventry Health Care (Bethesda) "226"
* Discovery Communications (Silver Spring)
* GEICO (Chevy Chase)
* Host Hotels & Resorts (Bethesda) "440"
* Hughes Network Systems (Germantown)
* Lockheed Martin (Bethesda) "57"
* Marriott International (Bethesda) "197"
* MedImmune (Gaithersburg)
* Novak Biddle Venture Partners (Bethesda)
* Radio One (Lanham)
* Ritz Carlton (Chevy Chase)
* Robert L. Johnson Companies (Bethesda)
* TV One (Silver Spring)
* United Therapeutics (Silver Spring)Baltimore area:
* ARINC (Annapolis)
* Black & Decker (Towson) "372"
* Constellation Energy (Baltimore) "117"
* Fila USA (Sparks)
* Legg Mason (Baltimore)
* McCormick & Company (Hunt Valley)
* New Enterprise Associates (Baltimore)
* T. Rowe Price (Baltimore)
* Under Armour (Baltimore)

Northern Virginia

* AES Corporation (Arlington) "183"
* Airbus North America (Herndon)
* BearingPoint (McLean)
* Booz Allen Hamilton (McLean)
* CACI (Arlington)
* Capital One (McLean) "130"
* Computer Sciences Corporation (Falls Church) "170"
* DynCorp International (Falls Church)
* Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (McLean) "Freddie Mac" "54"
* FNH USA (Fredericksburg)
* Gannett Company (McLean) "332"
* General Dynamics (Falls Church) "87"
* Kellogg Brown and Root Services (Arlington)
* Mars, Incorporated (McLean)
* Navy Federal Credit Union (Vienna)
* NII Holdings(Reston)
* NVR Incorporated (Reston) "464"
* Orbital Sciences (Dulles)
* Rolls-Royce North America (Reston)
* Space Adventures (Vienna)
* SLM Corporation (Reston) "Sallie Mae" "286"
* USA Today (McLean)
* Verizon Business (Ashburn)
* Volkswagen Group of America (Herndon)

Transportation

Major airports

*Washington Dulles International Airport (Chantilly, Virginia - busiest in region)
*Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (Anne Arundel County, Maryland - closest to Baltimore)
*Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (Arlington County, Virginia - closest to Washington)

Rail transit systems

*Amtrak
*Washington Metro
*MARC Train
*Baltimore Light Rail
*Baltimore Metro Subway
*Virginia Railway Express

Major highways

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Notes

ee also

* United States metropolitan area
* National Capital Region
* List of parks in the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area