Major Metropolitan Areas
The South was heavily rural as late as the 1940s, but now the population is increasingly concentrated in metropolitan areas, including central cities and their suburbs.
| Rank | Metropolitan Statistical Area | State(s) | Population |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington | TX | 6,371,773 |
| 2 | Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown | TX | 5,946,800 |
| 3 | Washington–Arlington–Alexandria | DC–VA– MD–WV |
5,582,170 |
| 4 | Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach | FL | 5,564,635 |
| 5 | Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta | GA | 5,268,860 |
| 6 | Tampa–St. Petersburg–Clearwater | FL | 2,783,243 |
| 7 | Baltimore–Towson | MD | 2,710,489 |
| 8 | San Antonio-New Braunfels-Seguin | TX | 2,142,508 |
| 9 | Orlando-Kissimmee | FL | 2,134,411 |
| 10 | Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky* | OH-IN-KY | 2,130,151 |
| 11 | Charlotte–Gastonia–Concord | NC–SC | 1,758,038 |
| 12 | Raleigh-Durham-Cary | NC | 1,749,925 |
| 13 | Austin–Round Rock-San Marcos | TX | 1,716,289 |
| 14 | Virginia Beach–Norfolk–Newport News | VA–NC | 1,671,683 |
| 15 | Nashville-Davidson–Murfreesboro–Franklin | TN | 1,589,934 |
| 16 | Jacksonville | FL | 1,345,596 |
| 17 | Memphis-Bartlett-Southaven | TN–MS–AR | 1,316,100 |
| 18 | Louisville–Jefferson County* | KY–IN | 1,307,647 |
| 19 | Richmond | VA | 1,258,251 |
| 20 | Oklahoma City | OK | 1,252,987 |
| 21 | New Orleans–Metairie–Kenner | LA | 1,167,764 |
| 22 | Birmingham–Hoover | AL | 1,128,047 |
| 23 | Tulsa | OK | 937,478 |
| 24 | Baton Rouge | LA | 802,484 |
| 25 | El Paso | TX | 800,647 |
* Asterisk indicates part of the metropolitan area is outside the states classified as Southern.
Read more about this topic: Southern United States
Famous quotes containing the words major, metropolitan and/or areas:
“You should hurry up ... and acquire the cigar habit. It’s one of the major happinesses. And so much more lasting than love, so much less costly in emotional wear and tear.”
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)
“In metropolitan cases, the love of the most single-eyed lover, almost invariably, is nothing more than the ultimate settling of innumerable wandering glances upon some one specific object.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“If a walker is indeed an individualist there is nowhere he can’t go at dawn and not many places he can’t go at noon. But just as it demeans life to live alongside a great river you can no longer swim in or drink from, to be crowded into safer areas and hours takes much of the gloss off walking—one sport you shouldn’t have to reserve a time and a court for.”
—Edward Hoagland (b. 1932)