Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area



The Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area is a combined statistical area consisting of the overlapping labor market region of the cities of Baltimore, Maryland and Washington, D.C.. The region includes Central Maryland, Northern Virginia, and two counties in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. It is the most educated, highest-income, and fourth largest Combined Statistical Area in the United States.

Officially, the area is designated by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as the Washington-Baltimore-Northern Virginia, DC-MD-VA-WV CSA. It is composed primarily of two major metropolitan areas, the Baltimore-Towson, MD 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. The most populous city is Baltimore, with a population of 637,455. The most populous county is Fairfax County, Virginia, 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 Metropolitan Area (5,286,227)
 * Bethesda-Frederick-Gaithersburg, MD Metropolitan Division (1,287,005)
 * Frederick County, Maryland
 * 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)
 * Washington County, Maryland
 * Berkeley County, West Virginia
 * Morgan 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)
 * St. Mary's County


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

Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments
Founded in 1957, the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (MWCOG) is a regional organization of 21 Washington-area local governments, as well as area members of the Maryland and Virginia state legislatures, the U.S. Senate, and the U.S. House of Representatives. MWCOG provides a forum for discussion and the development of regional responses to issues regarding the environment, transportation, public safety, homeland security, affordable housing, community planning, and economic development.

The National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board, a component of MWCOG, is the federally-designated Metropolitan Planning Organization for the metropolitan Washington area.

Baltimore Metropolitan Council
The Baltimore Metropolitan Council is the equivalent organization for the Baltimore portion of the combined Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area. The BMC, which was created in 1992 as the successor to the Regional Planning Council and Baltimore Regional Council of Governments, consists of the Baltimore region’s elected executives, representing Baltimore City and Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Harford and Howard counties.

The Baltimore Regional Transportation Board is the federally recognized Metropolitan Planning Organization for transportation planning in the Baltimore region.

List of principal cities
See List of cities in the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area for a full list.

Baltimore area

 * Baltimore, Maryland
 * Aberdeen, Maryland
 * Annapolis, Maryland
 * Columbia, Maryland
 * Towson, Maryland
 * Ellicott City, Maryland
 * Owings Mills, Maryland

Washington area

 * Washington, D.C.
 * Bethesda, Maryland
 * College Park, Maryland
 * Frederick, Maryland
 * Gaithersburg, Maryland
 * Potomac, Maryland
 * Rockville, Maryland
 * Silver Spring, Maryland
 * Upper Marlboro, Maryland
 * Alexandria, Virginia
 * McLean, Virginia
 * Reston, Virginia

Biotechnology
Not limited to its proximity to the National Institutes of Health, Maryland's Washington suburbs are a major center for biotechnology. Prominent local biotechnology 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 ranking.

Maryland
Baltimore area:
 * ARINC (Annapolis)
 * Constellation Energy (Baltimore) 125
 * Fila USA (Sparks)
 * Legg Mason (Baltimore) 500
 * McCormick & Company (Hunt Valley)
 * New Enterprise Associates (Baltimore)
 * T. Rowe Price (Baltimore)
 * Under Armour (Baltimore)

Washington area:
 * BAE Systems Inc. (Rockville)
 * Bethesda Softworks (Rockville)
 * Choice Hotels (Silver Spring)
 * Coventry Health Care (Bethesda) 226
 * Discovery Communications (Silver Spring)
 * GEICO (Chevy Chase)
 * Host Hotels & Resorts (Bethesda) 449
 * Hughes Network Systems (Germantown)
 * Lockheed Martin (Bethesda) 54
 * Marriott International (Bethesda) 208
 * MedImmune (Gaithersburg)
 * Radio One (Lanham)
 * Ritz-Carlton (Chevy Chase)
 * TV One (Silver Spring)

Washington, D.C.

 * Black Entertainment Television
 * Bureau of National Affairs
 * Carlyle Group
 * Danaher Corporation 239
 * Fannie Mae 53
 * National Geographic Society
 * Pepco Holdings 279
 * The Washington Post Company
 * XM Satellite Radio

Northern Virginia

 * AES Corporation (Arlington) 158
 * Airbus North America (Herndon)
 * BearingPoint (McLean)
 * Booz Allen Hamilton (McLean)
 * CACI (Arlington)
 * Capital One (McLean) 145
 * Computer Sciences Corporation (Falls Church) 153
 * DynCorp International (Falls Church)
 * Freddie Mac (McLean) 220
 * FNH USA (Fredericksburg)
 * Gannett Company (McLean) 371
 * General Dynamics (Falls Church) 83
 * Hilton Hotels Corporation (McLean)
 * Kellogg Brown and Root Services (Arlington)
 * Mars, Incorporated (McLean)
 * MicroStrategy (Tysons Corner)
 * Navy Federal Credit Union (Vienna)
 * NII Holdings(Reston)
 * NVR Incorporated (Reston) 464
 * Orbital Sciences (Dulles)
 * Rolls-Royce North America (Reston)
 * Science Applications International Corporation (McLean) 266
 * Space Adventures (Vienna)
 * SLM Corporation (Reston) "Sallie Mae" 331
 * USA Today (McLean)
 * Verizon Business (Ashburn)
 * Volkswagen Group of America (Herndon)
 * XO Communications (Herndon)

Major airports

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

Rail transit systems

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

Major highways
Interstates
 * [[Image:I-66.svg|20px]] Interstate 66
 * [[Image:I-70.svg|20px]] Interstate 70
 * [[Image:I-81.svg|20px]] Interstate 81
 * [[Image:I-83.svg|20px]] Interstate 83
 * [[Image:I-95.svg|20px]] Interstate 95
 * [[Image:I-97.svg|20px]] Interstate 97
 * [[Image:I-195.svg|25px]] Interstate 195
 * [[Image:I-270.svg|25px]] Interstate 270
 * [[Image:I-295.svg|25px]] Interstate 295
 * [[Image:I-370.svg|25px]] Interstate 370
 * [[Image:I-395.svg|25px]] Interstate 395 (District of Columbia-Virginia)
 * [[Image:I-395.svg|25px]] Interstate 395 (Maryland)
 * [[Image:I-495.svg|25px]] Interstate 495 (Capital Beltway)
 * [[Image:I-695.svg|25px]] Interstate 695 (Baltimore Beltway)
 * [[Image:I-795.svg|25px]] Interstate 795
 * [[Image:I-895.svg|25px]] Interstate 895

U.S. Routes
 * [[Image:US 1.svg|20px]] U.S. Route 1
 * [[Image:US 11.svg|20px]] U.S. Route 11
 * [[Image:US 15.svg|20px]] U.S. Route 15
 * [[Image:US 29.svg|20px]] U.S. Route 29
 * [[Image:US 40.svg|20px]] U.S. Route 40
 * [[Image:US 50.svg|20px]] U.S. Route 50
 * [[Image:US 340.svg|25px]] U.S. Route 340

State Routes
 * [[Image:MD Route 2.svg|20px]] Maryland Route 2
 * [[Image:MD Route 4.svg|20px]] Maryland Route 4
 * [[Image:MD Route 26.svg|20px]] Maryland Route 26
 * [[Image:MD Route 32.svg|20px]] Maryland Route 32
 * [[Image:MD Route 100.svg|25px]] Maryland Route 100
 * [[Image:MD Route 200.svg|25px]] Maryland Route 200/InterCounty Connector
 * [[Image:MD Route 295.svg|25px]] Baltimore–Washington Parkway/Maryland Route 295
 * [[Image:MD Route 355.svg|25px]] Maryland Route 355


 * [[Image:Virginia 7.svg|20px]] Virginia State Route 7
 * [[Image:Virginia 9.svg|20px]] Virginia State Route 9
 * [[Image:Virginia 28.svg|20px]] Virginia State Route 28
 * [[Image:Virginia 267.svg|25px]] Virginia State Route 267


 * [[Image:WV-9.svg|20px]] West Virginia Route 9