Delaware Valley Greater Philadelphia Philadelphia metropolitan area Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD CSA
Metropolitan area
Center City Philadelphia (in background) and the Schuylkill River (on left) as seen from South Street Bridge in July 2016
Map of the Lower Delaware Valley metropolitan area. In addition to the yellow-shaded area, other parts of South Jersey, including Atlantic County and Cape May County, and Delaware, including Dover, are considered to be part of the Delaware Valley or Philadelphia metropolitan area
Country	United States
State(s)	- Pennsylvania  - New Jersey  - Delaware  - Maryland
Principal city	Philadelphia
Satellite cities and towns	Camden Pennsauken Township Wilmington Atlantic City Reading Trenton[lower-alpha 1] Vineland Conshohocken Dover Chester Upper Darby Media Middletown Township Hammonton Norristown Doylestown Cherry Hill West Chester Evesham Washington Township Millville Salem Cape May Court House Lower Township The Wildwoods Brigantine Ventnor City Margate City Ocean City Sea Isle City Haverford Bridgeton Coatesville Lower Merion Gloucester Township Downingtown Phoenixville New Castle Pottstown King of Prussia Bensalem Township Burlington City and Burlington Township Middle Township (Cape May County) Mount Holly Newark Hamilton Township (Mays Landing) Woodbury Elkton Cheltenham Township Abington Township Bristol Township Mount Laurel Northampton Township Winslow Township New Hope Falls Township Middletown Township (Bucks County) Egg Harbor Township Galloway Township Pennsville Maurice River Township
Area
• Urban	1,981.4 sq mi (5,131.7 km2)
• Metro	5,118 sq mi (13,256 km2)
Elevation [1][2]	0 - 1,080 ft (0 - 329 m)
Population  (2021 est.)
• Urban	5,441,567 (5th)
• Metro density	1,217.00/sq mi (469.89/km2)
• MSA	6,228,601 (7th)
• CSA	7,366,346 (9th)
	MSA/CSA = 2021, Urban = 2010
GDP [3]
• MSA	$518.5 billion (2022)
Time zone	UTC−5 (EST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (EST)

The Delaware Valley, sometimes referred to as Greater Philadelphia or the Philadelphia metropolitan area, is a metropolitan region in the Northeast United States that centers around Philadelphia, the nation's sixth-most populous city, and spans parts of four U.S. states: southeastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, northern Delaware, and the northern Eastern Shore of Maryland. With a core Metropolitan Statistical Area population of 6.288 million residents and a Combined Statistical Area population of 7.366 million as of the 2020 census, the Delaware Valley is the seventh-largest metropolitan region in the nation, the eighth-largest metropolitan region in North America, and the 35th-largest metropolitan region in the world.

In addition to Philadelphia, other major urban population centers in the Delaware Valley include Reading, Upper Darby Township, and Chester in Pennsylvania; Atlantic City, Camden, Vineland, and Cherry Hill in New Jersey; and Wilmington and Dover in Delaware. The Philadelphia metropolitan area has a gross domestic product (GDP) of $431 billion, the tenth-largest among U.S. metropolitan areas.

The Delaware Valley has been influential in the nation's history and economy. The area has been home to many people and sites significant to American culture, history, and politics. Philadelphia is sometimes known as "The Birthplace of America",^[4] since both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were drafted and signed in the city. The Delaware Valley was home to many other instrumental moments during the American Revolution, and Philadelphia served as the nation's first capital for most of the 18th century until construction of the nation's capital in Washington, D.C., in 1800. Both the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution were signed and ratified in Independence Hall in Philadelphia in 1776 and 1789, respectively.

The Delaware Valley is one of the nation's leading regions for academia and academic research with a considerable number of globally-known and highly ranked universities, including the University of Pennsylvania, Drexel University, Thomas Jefferson University, Rowan University, Villanova University, Saint Joseph's University, Temple University, Rutgers University–Camden, La Salle University, the University of Delaware, Stockton University, and others.^[5] Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley are a biotechnology hub.^[6] As of 2023, metropolitan Philadelphia had entered the ranks of the top five U.S. venture capital centers, facilitated by its relative proximity to the New York metropolitan area and its entrepreneurial and financial ecosystems.^[7] In addition, South Jersey and the wider Philadelphia metropolitan area have become a U.S. East Coast epicenter for logistics and warehouse construction.^[8]

Geography

The drainage basin of the Delaware River

A warehouse in South Jersey

The Delaware Valley is geographically associated and proximate to the Delaware River's main watershed, which encompass the Delaware River's three primary tributaries, the Schuylkill River, Lehigh River, and the Brandywine River, and their respective valleys and sub-basins. These extensions also apply culturally because the ease of land travel in the region affords a great deal of daily interaction, creating a regional culture and value structure that largely blends and is parallel throughout it.

U.S. government agencies have reached various definitions of the Delaware Valley and the Greater Philadelphia Area.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) defines metropolitan statistical area (MSAs), which are regions with relatively high population densities at their cores and close economic ties throughout their respective areas. MSAs are further combined into combined statistical areas (CSAs), reflecting commuting patterns. Neither is a formal administrative division.

Population

The Delaware Valley is part of the Northeast megalopolis, the second-most highly populated region of the U.S. with 52.3 million residents.

As of the 2020 U.S. census, the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington Metropolitan Statistical Area is the seventh-largest MSA in the nation with 6,245,051 people.^[10] As of 2020, the Philadelphia–Reading–Camden, PA-NJ-DE-MD CSA is the nation's ninth-largest combined statistical area with a population of 7,379,700,

The Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington Metropolitan Statistical Area's population of slightly over six million people exceeds the populations of whole nations, including those of Lebanon, Denmark, and Nicaragua.

Economy

As of 2021, the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington Metropolitan Statistical Area has a gross domestic product of $477.58 billion, the tenth-largest among the nation's MSAs. The MSA's nominal gross domestic product of $431 billion is comparable to countries, such as Belgium, Iran, and Thailand.^[11] Metropolitan Philadelphia is one of the top five American venture capital hubs, credited to its proximity to the New York metropolitan area and its financial and tech and biotechnology ecosystems.

At least two educational institutions, Delaware Valley Regional High School in Alexandria Township, New Jersey, and Delaware Valley College in Doylestown Township, Pennsylvania, and a now defunct local newspaper, The Delaware Valley News in Frenchtown, New Jersey, are named for the region.

Subregions

The Philadelphia-Reading-Camden combined statistical area includes sixteen counties in four states. The five Pennsylvania counties in the metropolitan statistical area are collectively known as Southeastern Pennsylvania.^[12] In addition to Philadelphia, major municipalities in Southeastern Pennsylvania include the inner suburbs of Upper Darby Township and Bensalem Township. Berks County, which forms its own MSA and contains the CSA's second largest city, Reading, is generally not considered to be part of Southeastern Pennsylvania and is sometimes assigned to South Central Pennsylvania.

The seven New Jersey counties in the CSA are each located in South Jersey,^[13] and include: Atlantic County, Cape May County, and Cumberland County each form their own respective metropolitan statistical areas. Atlantic City, Cape May County, New Jersey, and the southern Jersey Shore, including Margate City, Ventnor City, the Wildwoods, and Sea Isle City, are major tourist destinations for people from inside and outside of the Delaware Valley. Other major municipalities in South Jersey include Cherry Hill and Camden, which is across the Delaware River, east of Philadelphia.

The two counties of Delaware in the CSA constitute a majority of Delaware's land mass and population. Wilmington is the most populous city in Delaware and the fifth-most populous municipality in the Delaware Valley. The lone Maryland county in the Philadelphia-Reading-Camden Combined Statistical Area is part of the region known as the Eastern Shore of Maryland.

Media market

The Delaware Valley and several areas bordering up on it, including the Lehigh Valley, are part of the Philadelphia media market, the fourth-largest media market in the nation as of 2023.^[14]

Components of Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD Metropolitan Statistical Area

Largest municipalities

Philadelphia, the most populous city in the Delaware Valley and sixth-most populous city in the nation with over 1.6 million residents

Reading, Pennsylvania

Ocean City, New Jersey

Wilmington, Delaware

The following municipalities are all within the Philadelphia-Reading-Camden combined statistical area and part of the Delaware Valley:

Characteristics

Grave of some of the 57 Irish victims of Duffy's Cut in West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd; Irish Americans make up the largest ethnicity in the Delaware Valley.^[18]

Philadelphia's Chinatown, home to many Chinese and Vietnamese restaurants

Hindu Temple of Delaware in Hockessin, Delaware

West Chester, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia's suburbs contain a high concentration of malls, the two largest of which have at least 5,000,000 square feet (460,000 m²) of office space, and at least 600,000 square feet (56,000 m²) of retail. These are the King of Prussia mall in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, which is the largest in the U.S. (leasable sq. feet of retail space), and the Cherry Hill Mall in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, which was the first enclosed mall on the East Coast. In addition, the Christiana Mall in Newark, Delaware, is a popular destination due to its proximity to Interstate 95 and because of the availability of tax-free shopping in Delaware. Malls, office complexes, strip shopping plazas, expressways, and tract housing are common sights, and more and more continue to replace rolling countryside, farms, woods, and wetlands. However, due to strong opposition by residents and political officials, many acres of land have been preserved throughout the Delaware Valley. Older townships and large boroughs, such as Cheltenham, Norristown, Jenkintown, Upper Darby, and West Chester retain distinct community identities while engulfed in suburbia. The fastest-growing counties are Chester, Montgomery, Bucks, and Gloucester.

Mid-Atlantic American English and its subset, Philadelphia English, are two common dialects of American English in Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley.

Climate

The Delaware Valley has four distinct seasons with ample precipitation and is divided by the 0 °C (32 °F) January isotherm. Philadelphia and the New Jersey portion of the area, almost all of the Delaware and Maryland portions, most of Delaware County and lower Bucks County, lowland southern Chester County, and some southern and lowland areas of Montgomery County have a humid subtropical climate (Cfa according to the Köppen climate classification.) The remainder of the Delaware Valley has a hot-summer humid continental climate (Dfa.) PRISM Climate Group at Oregon State University Snow amounts may vary widely year-to-year and normally do vary widely within the Delaware Valley.

The region has two ski resorts, Bear Creek Mountain Resort in Longswamp Township, Berks County and Spring Mountain Adventures in central Montgomery County.

Using the -3 °C January isotherm as a boundary, all of the Delaware Valley is humid subtropical except for higher portions of Berks County. The warm-summer humid continental climate (Dfb) only exists in higher areas of Berks where all monthly temperatures average below 22 °C. The hardiness zone in the region ranges from 6a in higher areas of Berks to 7b.

Using the Trewartha climate classification system, which requires eight months to average at least 50 °F for the climate to be considered subtropical, the region only has seven such months, so the area considered Cfa by Köppen is oceanic (Do) in the Trewartha system.

Colonial history

The valley was the territory of the Susquehannock and Lenape, who are recalled in place names throughout the region. The region became part of the Dutch colony of New Netherland after the exploration of Delaware Bay in 1609. The Dutch called the Delaware River the Zuyd Rivier, or South River, and considered the lands along it banks and those of its bay to be the southern flank of its province of New Netherland. In 1638, it began to be settled by Swedes, Forest Finns, Dutch, and Walloons and became the colony of New Sweden, though this was not officially recognized by the Dutch Empire which re-asserted control in 1655. The area was taken by the English in 1664.^[34] The name Delaware comes from Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, who had arrived at Jamestown, Virginia in 1610, just as original settlers were about to abandon it, and thus maintaining the English foothold on the North American continent. In the early 1700s, Huguenot refugees from France by way of Germany and then England began settling in the Delaware River Valley. Specifically, they left their mark in Hunterdon County, New Jersey (Frenchtown) and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.^[35]

Transportation

Many residents commute to jobs and travel in Philadelphia, Camden, Wilmington, and the surrounding suburbs with the help of expressways, trains, and buses. There are currently no transit connections to Reading, the second largest municipality in the region.

Rail

Rapid transit

SEPTA's Market–Frankford Line at 63rd Street Station in West Philadelphia

• SEPTA
  • Market–Frankford Line connecting 69th Street Transportation Center in Upper Darby to Frankford Transportation Center in Near Northeast Philadelphia, passing through Center City
  • Broad Street Line connecting Fern Rock Transportation Center in North Philadelphia to Center City and NRG station in South Philadelphia
  • Norristown High Speed Line connecting 69th Street Transportation Center with Norristown Transportation Center in Norristown
• PATCO
  • PATCO Speedline connecting Philadelphia to Lindenwold, NJ in Camden County with connections to NJT's Atlantic City Line.

Light rail

• SEPTA
  • Subway–surface lines: Routes 10, 11, 13, 34, and 36, connecting West Philadelphia and Delaware County with 13th Street Station, running at street-level through Delaware County and West Philadelphia, and beneath Market Street in Center City
  • Route 15 along Girard Avenue from 63rd Street and Girard Avenue to Richmond and Westmoreland Streets
  • Routes 101 and 102 connecting Media (Route 101) and Sharon Hill (Route 102) in Delaware County with 69th Street Transportation Center
• NJ Transit
  • River Line connecting Camden, New Jersey to Trenton, New Jersey, running along the east bank of the Delaware River.

Commuter rail

The grand concourse at Philadelphia's 30th Street Station, which serves Amtrak, SEPTA Regional Rail, and NJ Transit's Atlantic City Line

• SEPTA Regional Rail
  • Airport Line connecting Central Philadelphia with Philadelphia International Airport in Philadelphia and Delaware Counties.
  • Wilmington/Newark Line connecting Philadelphia to the Wilmington, Delaware area (with limited weekday service to Newark, Delaware), via Chester City and Delaware County.
  • Warminster Line connecting Philadelphia with southeastern Montgomery County and Warminster in Bucks County.
  • West Trenton Line connecting Philadelphia north to the Trenton, New Jersey area, serving Montgomery and Bucks County, Pennsylvania, between Jenkintown and Yardley, Pennsylvania, with the final stop in Ewing, New Jersey.
  • Media/Wawa Line connecting Philadelphia to central Delaware County.
  • Paoli/Thorndale Line connecting Philadelphia with the affluent Main Line area and western Chester County near Coatesville.
  • Lansdale/Doylestown Line connecting Philadelphia with Lansdale in central Montgomery County and Doylestown in Bucks County.
  • Manayunk/Norristown Line connecting Philadelphia with Conshohocken and Norristown in Montgomery County.
  • Cynwyd Line connecting Philadelphia with Bala Cynwyd on the Philadelphia/Montgomery County line (limited weekday service)
  • Trenton Line connecting Philadelphia to Trenton, New Jersey, serving Bucks County.
  • Fox Chase Line connecting Central Philadelphia with the Fox Chase area in Philadelphia.
  • Chestnut Hill East Line and Chestnut Hill West Line connecting Central Philadelphia with the Chestnut Hill area of the city.
• NJ Transit
  • Atlantic City Line connecting Philadelphia to Atlantic City, New Jersey with connections to PATCO Speedline in Lindenwold, New Jersey.
• MARC Train
  • Penn Line connecting Perryville, Maryland to Baltimore and Washington D.C., and in the future will connect to SEPTA at Newark, DE.

Intercity rail

• Amtrak
  • Acela: high-speed rail connecting Washington, D.C., with Boston
  • Cardinal connecting Chicago with New York City
  • Carolinian connecting Charlotte, NC with New York City
  • Crescent connecting New Orleans and New York City
  • Keystone Service connecting Harrisburg, PA with New York City
  • Northeast Regional: inter-city regional rail service from Virginia to Boston
  • Palmetto connecting Savannah, GA with New York City
  • Pennsylvanian connecting Pittsburgh with New York City
  • Silver Meteor connecting Miami with New York City
  • Silver Star connecting Miami with New York City
  • Vermonter connecting Washington, D.C., with St. Albans, VT

Major highways

Schuylkill Expressway in Center City Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

• I-76 (Schuylkill Expressway)
• I-78
• I-95 (Delaware Expressway)
• I-295 (Delaware Expressway)
• I-176 (Morgantown Expressway)
• 
  
  
  I-76 Toll / I-276 Toll / I-95 Toll / Penna Turnpike
• I-476 (Blue Route/Mid-County Expressway)
• 
  I-476 Toll / Penna Turnpike NE Extension
• I-676 / US 30 (Vine Street Expressway)
• 
  I-676 Toll / US 30 (Benjamin Franklin Bridge)
• 
  I-76 Toll (Walt Whitman Bridge)
• US 1 (Lincoln Expressway/Roosevelt Boulevard/City Line Avenue/Kennett-Oxford Bypass)
• US 13
• US 22
• US 30 (Lancaster Avenue/Lincoln Highway)
• US 202 (Wilmington Pike/Highway/Dekalb Pike/Highway/Doylestown Pike/Lower York Road)
• US 222 (Kutztown Bypass/Outer Bypass/Shillington Bypass)
• US 322 (Conchester Highway/Horseshoe Pike)
• US 422 (Pottstown Expressway/Perkiomen Avenue/West Shore Bypass)
• PA 3 (West Chester Pike)
• PA 10
• PA 12 (Warren Street Bypass/Pricetown Road)
• PA 23
• PA 29
• PA 32 (River Road)
• PA 41 (Gap-Newport Pike)
• PA 52 (Kennett Pike)
• PA 61 (Centre Avenue/Pottsville Pike)
• PA 63 (Woodhaven Road/Welsh Road/Sumneytown Pike)
• PA 73
• PA 82
• PA 100 (Pottstown Pike)
• PA 113
• PA 132 (Street Road)
• PA 152 (Limekiln Pike)
• PA 162
• PA 179 (Upper York Road)
• PA 212
• PA 213
• PA 232 (Huntingdon Pike/Oxford Ave)
• PA 252 (Newtown Street Road)
• PA 261 (Foulk Road)
• PA 263 (York Road)
• PA 272
• PA 282
• PA 291 (Industrial Hwy)
• PA 309 (Fort Washington Expressway/Bethlehem Pike/Sellersville-Souderton Bypass)
• PA 313
• PA 320 (Sproul Road)
• PA 332
• PA 340
• PA 345
• PA 352 (Middletown Road/Chester Road)
• PA 363 (Valley Forge Road/Trooper Road)
• PA 372
• PA 401 (Conestoga Road)
• PA 412 (Durham Road)
• PA 413
• PA 420 (Woodland Avenue/Kedron Avenue)
• PA 452 (Pennell Road)
• PA 463
• PA 472
• PA 491
• PA 513
• PA 532 (Washington Crossing Road/Buck Road)
• PA 562
• PA 563
• PA 611 (Doylestown Bypass/Easton Road/Old York Road)
• PA 663 (John Fries Hwy)
• PA 724
• PA 796
• PA 841
• PA 842
• PA 896
• PA 926 (Street Road)

New Jersey

• N.J. Turnpike
• G.S. Parkway
• A.C. Expressway
• 
  I-76 Toll (Walt Whitman Bridge)
• I-295
• 
  I-676 Toll / US 30 (Benjamin Franklin Bridge)
• I-76 / I-676 / Route 42 (North-South Freeway)
• US 9
• US 30
• US 40
• US 130
• US 206
• US 322
• Route 27
• Route 29
• Route 31
• Route 33
• Route 38
• Route 44
• Route 45
• Route 47
• Route 48
• Route 49
• Route 50
• Route 52
• Route 54
• Route 55
• Route 56
• Route 68
• Route 70
• Route 72
• Route 73
• Route 83
• Route 87
• Route 90 (Betsy Ross Bridge)
• Route 109
• Route 129
• Route 133
• Route 143
• Route 147
• Route 152
• Route 156
• Route 157
• Route 168
• Route 179
• Route 413

Delaware

• I-95 / Delaware Turnpike
• I-295
• I-495
• US 13
• US 40
• US 113
• US 202
• 
  US 301 Toll
• DE 1
• DE 2
• DE 3
• DE 4
• DE 7
• DE 9
• DE 37
• DE 41
• DE 48
• DE 52
• DE 58
• DE 62
• DE 71
• DE 72
• DE 82
• DE 92
• DE 100
• DE 141
• DE 202
• DE 261
• DE 273
• DE 279
• DE 299
• DE 491
• DE 896

Maryland

• I-95
• US 1
• US 40
• US 222

Delaware River Bridges

Benjamin Franklin Bridge

Philadelphia International Airport

• New Hope–Lambertville Toll Bridge^[36]
• Scudder Falls Bridge
• Delaware River – Turnpike Toll Bridge
• Burlington–Bristol Bridge
• Tacony–Palmyra Bridge
• Betsy Ross Bridge
• Benjamin Franklin Bridge
• Walt Whitman Bridge
• Commodore Barry Bridge
• Delaware Memorial Bridge

Colleges and universities

Parrish Hall at Swarthmore College and Cohen Hall, previously named Logan Hall, former home of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. The Wharton School is consistently ranked as the best business school in the world.^[39]

Culture

Citizens Bank Park in South Philadelphia, home of the Philadelphia Phillies

Area codes

• 215/267/445: The City of Philadelphia and some of its northern suburbs
• 610/484/835: Southeastern Pennsylvania outside Philadelphia, including the western suburbs, the Lehigh Valley, and most of Berks County
• 856: Southwestern New Jersey, including Camden, Cherry Hill, and Vineland
• 609/640: Central and Southeastern New Jersey, including Trenton, Atlantic City and the southern Jersey Shore
• 302: Delaware
• 410/443/667: Eastern half of Maryland, including Cecil County
• 717/223: South Central Pennsylvania, including Western Berks County

Politics

Philadelphia is heavily Democratic, having voted for the Democratic candidate in every presidential election since 1936. The surrounding suburban counties are key political areas in Pennsylvania, which itself is an important swing state in federal politics.^[40] South Jersey has consistently voted Democratic at the presidential level in recent years, although the region is slightly more Republican-leaning than North Jersey and has voted for Republicans at the state and local level.^[41] New Castle County's Democratic lean and large share of Delaware's population has tended to make Delaware as a whole vote for Democrats, while the less populous Kent County is more competitive.^[42] Recent well-known political figures from the Greater Philadelphia area include current U.S. President Joe Biden, former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell and late former U.S. Senator Arlen Specter.

See also

• Central Delaware Valley AVA
• Delaware Valley Railway
• Northeast megalopolis
• Mid-Atlantic states

Notes

References

Further reading

• Jean R. Soderlund, Lenape Country: Delaware Valley Society before William Penn. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014.
• Mark L. Thompson, The Contest for the Delaware Valley: Allegiance, Identity, and Empire in the Seventeenth Century. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 2013.

External links

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Delaware Valley.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Delaware Valley.

• Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission
• Delaware River Basin Commission

39°52′37″N 75°19′23″W / 39.877°N 75.323°W / 39.877; -75.323