Metroplex

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A metroplex is large metropolitan area containing several cities and their suburbs. It is also sometimes used as an alternative to metropolis or megalopolis, which is a chain of continuous metropolitan areas. The term was coined for, and is still commonly used to describe, the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. Sometimes, a region is not clearly defined. It can be seen as a metroplex or a single metropolitan area (for example, Dallas - Fort Worth is closer to the definition of a metro and Norcal is closer to the definition of a megalopolis).

The most common use of the word metroplex in the United States is for:

Dallas - Fort Worth, sometimes called DFW; the area around Dallas and Fort Worth is regularly referred to as simply "The Metroplex" in print and television media inside the state of Texas, unlike the other metropolitan areas listed. Recent conventions are moving toward the use of "North Texas" to describe the DFW area.

Some other areas in the U.S. and Canada that meet the definition of metroplex:

Southern California (sometimes referred to as the Southland or SoCal), comprising Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana ("Greater Los Angeles"), Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario ("Inland Empire"), Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, Santa Barbara-Santa Maria, and San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos
Northern California or NorCal, centered on the San Francisco Bay Area of San Jose - San Francisco - Oakland, extending north and south to Santa Rosa-Petaluma, Vallejo-Fairfield and Santa Cruz-Watsonville, Salinas, and inland to merge with the Central Valley areas of Yuba City, Sacramento--Arden-Arcade--Roseville, Stockton, Modesto, Merced.
Golden Horseshoe, a region in Canada stretching from Northumberland County to London in Ontario, with a central focus on Toronto. The 3 metropolitan areas, London, Buffalo, and the Golden Horseshoe fabricate this metroplex of over 10 million.
BosWash. Boston, Providence, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, which stretches in that order, from North to South, along the Atlantic Seaboard of the US.
Las Vegas metropolitan area; usually known locally as 'the Metro' or 'the Valley'; the current Las Vegas conurbation has Las Vegas growing into the smaller but older Henderson, Nevada. Additionally, North Las Vegas is incorporated independently, and Summerlin perennially seeks separate incorporation. This is merely the most conservative definition of the Las Vegas metroplex; a larger one might reasonably incorporate Boulder City, Pahrump, and Indian Springs. The cities are listed in rough order of the ease with which their residents could identify their own mayor (many mistakenly believe it to be Oscar Goodman). The Las Vegas metroplex dominates southern Nevada and (in most regards) Nevada as a whole; Henderson alone is the state's second-largest city, having beaten out Reno as of the 2000 census.
Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota are usually addressed identically to Dallas-Ft. Worth - that is, together - and similarly treated for most purposes as a single city.

Metroplex

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