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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

Maryland

New Jersey

NOTE: The 2000 U.S. Census amended previous estimates (based on commuting patterns) of Mercer County, New Jersey and the city of Trenton, moving the county from the Philadelphia metropolitan area to the New York metropolitan area; however, in geographic terms, Mercer County is still considered part of the Delaware Valley.

Pennsylvania

Primary Cities

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

Airports

See also

References

External links

Geography of Philadelphia | Regions of Maryland | Metropolitan areas of the United States | Pennsylvania metropolitan areas | Valleys of the United States

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Delaware Valley".

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