The New York metropolitan area, also called the Tri-State area and sometimes referred to as Greater New York or Metro New York, is the largest metropolitan economy in the world, with a gross metropolitan product of over US $2.6 trillion. It is also the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass, encompassing . Among the most populous metro areas in the world, New York is the largest metropolitan statistical area in the United States and the only one with more than 20 million residents, according to the 2020 U.S. Census.
The core of this vast area, the New York metropolitan statistical area, includes New York City and much of Downstate New York (Long Island as well as the lower Hudson Valley), northern and central New Jersey (including that state's eleven largest municipalities), and Southwestern Connecticut. Broader definitions of the metropolitan area include the satellite cities of Poughkeepsie, New York; Trenton, New Jersey; and New Haven, Connecticut and their suburbs. The urban region's combined statistical area also includes portions of Northeastern Pennsylvania. The New York metropolitan area's coastline constitutes one of the fastest-warming urban ocean shorelines in the world.
The New York metropolitan statistical area was in 2020 the most populous in the United States, with 20.1 million residents, or slightly over 6% of the nation's total population. The combined statistical area includes 23.6 million residents as of 2020. It is one of the largest urban agglomerations in the world. The New York metropolitan area continues to be the premier gateway for legal immigration to the United States, having the largest foreign-born population of any metropolitan region in the world, and is home to the largest Asian population outside Asia, at 2.6 million. The metropolitan statistical area covers while the combined statistical area is , encompassing an ethnically and geographically diverse region. The New York metropolitan area's population is larger than that of the state of New York, and the metropolitan airspace accommodated over 130 million passengers in 2016.
Greater New York, known as the financial capital of the world, is also the hub of several industries, including health care, pharmaceuticals, and scientific output in life sciences, international trade, publishing, real estate, education, fashion, entertainment, tourism, law, and manufacturing; and if the New York metropolitan area were an independent sovereign state, it would constitute the eighth-largest economy in the world. New York County (Manhattan) is by a significant margin the most expensive U.S. county for the average home price per square foot, and produces the highest U.S. county GDP by both absolute and per capita measures. The New York metropolitan area is widely regarded as the most prominent financial, diplomatic, and media hub in the world. As of 2025, the New York metropolitan area has become the largest tech talent hub in the world.
The New York metropolitan area is known for its varied landscape and natural beauty, and contains five of the top ten richest places in America, according to Bloomberg. These are Scarsdale, New York; Short Hills, New Jersey; Old Greenwich, Connecticut; Bronxville, New York; and Darien, Connecticut. The New York metropolitan region's higher education network comprises hundreds of colleges and universities, including campuses of four Ivy League universities: Columbia, Princeton, Yale, and Cornell (at Cornell Tech and Weill Cornell Medicine); the flagship campuses of public universities systems at Stony Brook (SUNY), Rutgers (New Jersey), New Jersey Institute of Technology; and globally-ranked New York University, Rockefeller University, and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
Definitions
Metropolitan statistical area
The U.S. Office of Management and Budget utilizes two definitions of the urbanized area: the metropolitan statistical area (MSA), and the combined statistical area (CSA). The MSA definition is titled the New York–Newark–Jersey City, NY–NJ Metropolitan Statistical Area, and includes a population of 19.9 million people by 2024 Census estimates, roughly 1 in 17 Americans and over 7 million more than the second-place Los Angeles Metro Area in the United States. The metropolitan statistical area is further subdivided into four metropolitan divisions. The 23-county metropolitan statistical area includes 10 counties in New York State (coextensive with the five boroughs of New York, the two remaining counties of Long Island, and three counties in the Lower Hudson Valley) and 12 counties in Northern and Central New Jersey. The largest urbanized area in the United States is at the heart of the metropolitan area, the New York–Jersey City–Newark, NY–NJ Urban Area, which had a land area of 3,248 square miles in 2020 according to the 2020 census. The New York State portion of the metropolitan area, which includes the five boroughs of New York City, the lower Hudson Valley, and Long Island, accounts for over 65 percent of the state's population.
The counties and county groupings constituting the New York metropolitan area are listed below, with 2024 Census estimates:
New York–Newark–Jersey City, NY–NJ Metropolitan Statistical Area (19,940,274) New York–Jersey City–White Plains, NY–NJ Metropolitan Division (12,172,495) Kings County, NY (the borough of Brooklyn in NYC) Queens County, NY (the borough of Queens in NYC) New York County, NY (the borough of Manhattan in NYC) Bronx County, NY (the borough of The Bronx in NYC) Richmond County, NY (the borough of Staten Island in NYC) Westchester County, NY Bergen County, NJ Hudson County, NJ Passaic County, NJ Rockland County, NY Putnam County, NY Nassau County–Suffolk County, NY Metropolitan Division (2,928,347) Suffolk County, NY Nassau County, NY New Brunswick–Lakewood, NJ Metropolitan Division (2,561,540) Middlesex County, NJ Monmouth County, NJ Ocean County, NJ Somerset County, NJ Newark, NJ Metropolitan Division (2,277,892) Essex County, NJ Union County, NJ Morris County, NJ Sussex County, NJ Hunterdon County, NJ
Combined statistical area Combined statistical areas (CSAs) group together adjacent core-based statistical areas with a high degree of economic interconnection. The New York–Newark, NY–NJ–CT–PA Combined Statistical Area had an estimated population of 22.3 million as of 2024. About one out of every fifteen Americans resides in this region, which includes six additional counties in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania and two planning regions in Connecticut. This area, less the Pennsylvania portion, is often referred to as the tri-state area and less commonly the tri-state region. The New York City television designated market area (DMA) includes Pike County, Pennsylvania, which is also included in the CSA.
In addition to the New York–Newark–Jersey City, NY–NJ metropolitan statistical area (MSA), the following core-based statistical areas are also included in the New York–Newark, NY–NJ–CT–PA CSA: Bridgeport–Stamford–Danbury, CT MSA (972,679) Greater Bridgeport Planning Region Western Connecticut Planning Region Hemlock Farms, PA μSA (62,376) Pike County Kingston, NY MSA (182,977) Ulster County Kiryas Joel–Poughkeepsie–Newburgh, NY MSA (711,730) Dutchess County Orange County Monticello, NY MSA (80,450) Sullivan County Trenton–Princeton, NJ MSA (392,138) Mercer County
Geography
The area is commonly divided into the following subregions:Geography Explained (see Change in Labor Market Areas) New York City (the primary urban center of the metropolitan region, comprising five boroughs, one of which is Manhattan, the geographical, cultural, and economic core of the entire metropolitan area) Central and eastern Long Island (Nassau and Suffolk Counties – separated by water from the rest of the region except New York City; not including Queens County or Kings County (Brooklyn), which are concurrent with two of New York's five boroughs) North Jersey (northern portion of New Jersey) Central Jersey (middle portion of New Jersey) Hudson Valley (Lower Hudson Valley suburbs of Westchester, Putnam, and Rockland Counties; and Mid-Hudson exurbs of Dutchess, Sullivan, Orange, and Ulster Counties) Western Connecticut (Only Fairfield, New Haven, and Litchfield Counties are part of the region and separated by the state line) Southern and Eastern Poconos (Monroe and Pike Counties in Pennsylvania)
All eight subregions are often further subdivided. For instance, Long Island can be divided into its South and North Shores (usually when speaking about Nassau County and western Suffolk County) and the East End. The Hudson Valley and Connecticut are sometimes grouped together and referred to as the Northern Suburbs, largely because of the shared usage of the Metro-North Railroad system.
Climate Under the Köppen climate classification, New York City, western (and parts of eastern) Long Island, and the Jersey Shore experience a humid subtropical climate (Cfa), and New York is thus the northernmost major city on the North American continent with this climate type.
Much of the remainder of the metropolitan area lies in the transition zone from a humid subtropical (Cfa) to a humid continental climate (Dfa), and it is only the inland, more exurban areas far to the north and west such as Sussex County, New Jersey, that have a January daily average of or below and are fully humid continental; the Dfb (warm summer subtype) regime is only found inland at a higher elevation, and receives greater snowfall than the Dfa region. Much of Monroe and most of Pike County in Pennsylvania also have a fully humid continental climate.
Summers in the area are typically hot and humid. Nighttime conditions in and around the five boroughs of New York are often exacerbated by the urban heat island phenomenon, and temperatures exceed on average of 7–8 days (on the immediate Long Island Sound and Atlantic coasts), up to in excess of 27 days (inland suburbs in New Jersey) each summer and may exceed . Normally, warm to hot temperatures begin in mid-May, and last through early October. Summers also feature passing thundershowers which build in the heat of the day and then drop brief, but intense, rainfall.
Winters are cold with a mix of rain and snow. Although prevailing winds in winter are offshore, and temper the moderating effects of the Atlantic Ocean, the Atlantic and the partial shielding by the Appalachians from colder air keep the New York area warmer in the winter than inland North American metropolitan areas located at similar or lesser latitudes including Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and Indianapolis. Warm periods with + temperatures may occasionally occur during winter as well. The hardiness zone in the New York metropolitan area varies over a wide range from 5a in the highest areas of Dutchess, Monroe, and Ulster Counties to 7b in most of NYC as well as Hudson County from Bayonne up the east side of the Palisades to Route 495, the majority of Nassau County, the north coast of Monmouth County, and Copiague Harbor, Lindenhurst, and Montauk in Suffolk County."Interactive Map | USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map". .
Almost all of the metropolitan area receives at least of precipitation annually, which is relatively evenly spread throughout the year, and many areas receive upwards of . Average winter snowfall for 1981 to 2010 ranges from just under along the coast of Long Island to more than in some inland areas, but this usually varies considerably from year to year. Hurricanes and tropical storms have impacted the Tri-State area in the past, though a direct hit is rare. Several areas on Long Island, New Jersey, and the Connecticut coast have been impacted by serious storm surges in the past. Inland areas have been impacted by heavy rain and flooding from tropical cyclones.