Delaware Valley

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Philadelphia-Camden-Vineland

Common name: Delaware Valley
Largest city Other cities	Philadelphia Camden & Wilmington
Population	Ranked 4th in the U.S.
- Total | 5,951,797 (2004 est.)
- Density | 1,163 /sq. mi. 449 /km²
Area	5,118 sq. mi. 13,256 km²
State(s)	- Pennsylvania  - New Jersey  - Delaware  - Maryland
Elevation
- Highest point | N/A feet (N/A m)
- Lowest point | 0 feet (0 m)

The Delaware Valley, also known as the Philadelphia-Camden-Vineland, PA-NJ-DE-MD Metropolitan Combined Statistical Area, is named for the Delaware River which flows through the region.

The Delaware Valley is composed of several counties in Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, and contains a population of 5,951,797 (as of the 2005 Census Bureau estimate). Philadelphia, being the region's major commercial and industrial center, maintains a rather large sphere of influence that affects those counties that immediately surround it. The majority of the region's populace reside in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

The Delaware Valley once had a stagnant population, but over the past twenty years the area has recorded population growth at a rate of 10.6% on average. The area boasts safe, prospering suburbs and cities, cleaner air than most metropolitan areas, and cultural and ethnic enclaves. The area boasts a large influx of foreign born residents, hailing from many countries across Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and Europe. The area has the one of the largest populations of Koreans and Indians in the country, along with many other Asian backgrounds, significantly Chinese and Vietnamese. There are also huge populations of African Americans, Puerto Ricans, Arabs, and many Europeans, especially Italians, Russians, Ukrainians, Germans, Irish, and Poles.[2003 American Community Survey: Philadelphia, PA-NJ PMSA], United States Census Bureau, accessed June 7, 2006 The Delaware Valley is also home to one of the most prominent populations of African-born residents, mainly of Nigerian, Liberian, Ethiopian, Kenyan, Sudanese, and Somali backgrounds.

Many residents commute to jobs in Philadelphia, Camden, Wilmington, and increasingly as far as New York City, with the help of expressways and trains. Commutes from one suburb to another are also common, as office parks have sprung up in new commercial centers such as King of Prussia and Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, and Cherry Hill.

The area has extensive suburban sprawl. There are two Levittowns: Levittown, Pennsylvania, and Willingboro, New Jersey. King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, and Cherry Hill, New Jersey are two of the largest suburban edge cities. Philadelphians, migrants, and immigrants continue to spread out. Malls, office complexes, strip shopping plazas, expressways, and tract housing are common sites, and more and more are continued to be constructed as these replace rolling countryside, farms, woods, and wetlands. However, recent opposition made by residents and political officals, many acres of land have been preserved throughout the Delaware Valley. Older small towns and large boroughs such as Norristown, Jenkintown and West Chester remain while engulfed in suburbia.

The Delaware Valley is the fourth largest metropolitan area in the United States (and the sixth largest combined statistical area, closely trailing the San Francisco Bay Area), and is located in the middle of the BosWash megalopolis, the name given for a group of metropolitan areas in the northeastern United States, extending from Boston, Massachusetts to Washington, D.C.

It should also be noted that, although on a much smaller scale, the northeastern corner of Pennsylvania has an area known as the Delaware Valley. Even though the Delaware River forms the entire eastern border of the state, there are only two regions that call themselves the Delaware Valley.

Counties making up the Delaware Valley

Delaware

• New Castle County

Maryland

• Cecil County

New Jersey

• Burlington County
• Camden County
• Cumberland County
• Gloucester County
• Salem County

Pennsylvania

• Bucks County
• Chester County
• Delaware County
• Montgomery County
• Philadelphia County

Primary Cities

• Camden, New Jersey
• Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Vineland, New Jersey
• Wilmington, Delaware

Transportation

Commuter Rail

• SEPTA Regional Rail
• *R1 Glenside Route and its six branches serving Bucks County and Montgomery County
• *R5 Thorndale Route serving Chester County
• *R2 Newark (DE) Route connecting Philadelphia to the Wilmington (DE) area, serving Delaware County
• *R7 Trenton Route connecting Philadelphia to the Trenton (NJ) area, serving Bucks County
• New Jersey Transit
• *Atlantic City Line connecting Philadelphia to Atlantic City (NJ)
• *River LINE connecting Camden (NJ) to Trenton (NJ) running along the east bank of the Delaware River
• PATCO Speedline connecting Philadelphia to the Camden (NJ) area

Major Highways

• Interstate 95
• Interstate 295 (New Jersey)
• Interstate 76
• Interstate 276
• Interstate 476
• Interstate 676
• New Jersey Turnpike
• U.S. Route 1
• Route 55 (New Jersey)
• Route 42 (New Jersey)/Atlantic City Expressway

Airports

• Philadelphia International Airport (PHL)
• Northeast Philadelphia Airport (PNE)
• New Castle Airport (ILG)

See also

• Metropolitan area
• United States Metropolitan Combined Statistical Area

References