What is the the Greater Philly Metro Area? (Philadelphia, Allentown: houses, buy)

[Thruway]

I'm curious what is considered the greater PHI metro area?
Does it go basically from Cecil County, MD to Dover, DE, to Atlantic City, NJ, to Trenton, NJ to Easton, PA to King of Prussia, PA to Lancaster, PA?
Is this pretty much the borders of the PHI region to NY up north, Baltimore to the south and west, PIT to the west?
Thanks.

[Duderino]

This is an interesting question, because I think sprawl has definitely increased the boundaries within the past few decades. Wikipedia has a decent explanation of the Delaware Valley:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delaware_Valley

There are, of course, the "core" counties, but I don't think it would be inaccurate to say that the smaller metros around Allentown, Reading, and Lancaster are all being encroached by the growth of the Greater Philadelphia MSA.

[rainrock]

Originally Posted by tberg224

I'm curious what is considered the greater PHI metro area?
Does it go basically from Cecil County, MD to Dover, DE, to Atlantic City, NJ, to Trenton, NJ to Easton, PA to King of Prussia, PA to Lancaster, PA?
Is this pretty much the borders of the PHI region to NY up north, Baltimore to the south and west, PIT to the west?
Thanks.

Counties that technically make up metro Philadelphia.

Pa

Philadelphia
Delaware
Chester
Montgomery
Bucks

NJ

Camden
Burlington
Gloucester
Salem

Delaware

NewCastle

The TV/media market expands much further. From the Poconos and Lancaster all the way down to the tip of South Jersey in Cape May.

Berks County should be close to entering the metro as the 422 corridor is filling up pretty quickly from Montgomery County northward. One county I don't get is Mercer County in NJ. Trenton is about 15 miles from the NE Phila border and 70 miles from Manhattan yet Mercer County gets included in NYC metro. I don't buy that even a little bit.

[Duderino]

Originally Posted by rainrock

One county I don't get is Mercer County in NJ. Trenton is about 15 miles from the NE Phila border and 70 miles from Manhattan yet Mercer County gets included in NYC metro. I don't buy that even a little bit.

I definitely agree. Mercer, although some do not agree there is a "central" Jersey, should be considered the "buffer" between the New York and Philly Metros, if anything.

[Jerry Reidy]

The Philadelphia Region, Delaware Valley, Philadelphia Metropolitian Staticial Area (differnt names ofr the same region) consists of the City of Philadelphia, Four Suburban Counties in Pennsylvania, Bucks, Montgomery, Chester and Delaware and Burlington County, Gloucester County, Camden County, Salem County and Camden City, New Jersey. The term "Delaware Valley" was adopted to satisfy New Jersey Residents. No one else in the country knows that the Delaware Valley is actually the Philadelphia Region.

Yours,

Jerry Reidy

[toobusytoday]

Yes, please leave the Lehigh Valley out of the Philadelphia/Delaware Valley area. The Philadelphia Inquirer only covers something up here when there is a murder or something equally newsworthy. However, I do like hearing us mentioned by the weather guys on the news channels.

[zip95]

Originally Posted by toobusytoday

Yes, please leave the Lehigh Valley out of the Philadelphia/Delaware Valley area. The Philadelphia Inquirer only covers something up here when there is a murder or something equally newsworthy. However, I do like hearing us mentioned by the weather guys on the news channels.

The two metros bump up against one another. I think the situation is similar with the Reading Metro

[toobusytoday]

Allentown is 60 miles from Philadelphia, no train connects them. Except for the Eagles and die hard commuters, I don't think they really "bump" up against each other.

[Icy Tea]

I think its becoming one large region, less the Philadelphia region and more a region that has Philadelphia in it. But weather wise, Reading and Allentown differ enough to have their own forecasts( and the first 24 hour all local weather cable channel). News is also dominated by local papers and cable, the Inquirer is minimally read but Channel 6 ABC does have a strong presence. People in eastern Berks commute heavily to Montgomery County but less to Philly. One good thing about high gas prices, maybe they won't want to move here and drive so far to work!

[toobusytoday]

The Philadelphia Inquirer stops coverage at the Bucks and Montgomery County lines and will not do home delivery unless there are so many houses that will take it on the same street. They will not deliver it to our public library! John Grogan, author of Marley and Me, and former Inquirer columnist, could not get it delivered to his Lehigh county home. They only do their annual school report for the five county area surrounding Philadelphia.

I think the media coverage makes a difference in how we feel separate from Philadelphia. Our Allentown paper does not cover what's happening in Philadelphia except for sports or if it's a slow news day and something exciting happens in Phil. So every day, the slant in news for us is Lehigh county. I like the regionalism. Not that it's Philadelphia versus us, but that we are our own area with our own concerns and history.