Washington–Baltimore combined statistical area

Components of the combined statistical area

The counties and independent cities and their groupings that comprise the area are listed below with their 2012 population estimates. Central counties/cities (designated as such by OMB) for each MSA are shown in italics.

• Washington–Arlington–Alexandria, DC–VA–MD–WV Metropolitan Area (5,860,342)

  • Arlington–Alexandria–Reston, VA–WV Metropolitan Division
    • Arlington County, Virginia
    • Clarke County, Virginia
    • Culpeper County, Virginia
    • Fairfax County, Virginia
    • Fauquier County, Virginia
    • Loudoun County, Virginia
    • Prince William County, Virginia
    • Rappahannock 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
  • Frederick–Gaithersburg–Bethesda, MD Metropolitan Division (1,244,291)
    • Frederick County, Maryland
    • Montgomery County, Maryland
  • Washington, DC–MD Metropolitan Division (4,616,051)
    • Washington, District of Columbia
    • Charles County, Maryland
    • Prince George's County, Maryland

• Baltimore–Columbia–Towson, MD Metropolitan Area (2,753,149)

  • Baltimore City
  • Anne Arundel County
  • Baltimore County
  • Carroll County
  • Harford County
  • Howard County
  • Queen Anne's County

• Hagerstown–Martinsburg, MD–WV Metropolitan Area (256,278)

  • Washington County, Maryland
  • Berkeley County, West Virginia
  • Morgan County, West Virginia

• Chambersburg, PA Metropolitan Area (151,275)

  • Franklin County, Pennsylvania

• Winchester, VA–WV Metropolitan Area (130,907)

  • Frederick County, Virginia
  • Winchester city, Virginia
  • Hampshire County, West Virginia

• California–Lexington Park, MD Metropolitan Area (108,987)

  • Calvert County
  • St. Mary's County

• Easton, MD Micropolitan Area (38,098)

  • Talbot County, Maryland

• Lake of the Woods, VA Micropolitan Area

  • Orange County, Virginia

• Cambridge, MD Micropolitan Area

  • Dorchester County, Maryland

Regional organizations

Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments

Main article: Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments

Founded in 1957, the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (MWCOG) is a regional organization of 23 Washington-area local governments, 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.

Principal cities

Major cities

• Baltimore, Maryland
• Washington, D.C.

Baltimore area

• Baltimore
• Aberdeen, Maryland
• Annapolis, Maryland
• Arbutus, Maryland
• Bel Air, Maryland
• Brooklyn, Maryland
• Brooklyn Park, Maryland
• Catonsville, Maryland
• Cockeysville, Maryland
• Columbia, Maryland
• Curtis Bay, Maryland
• Dundalk, Maryland
• Eldersburg, Maryland
• Elkridge, Maryland
• Ellicott City, Maryland
• Essex, Maryland
• Fullerton, Maryland
• Glen Burnie, Maryland
• Halethorpe, Maryland
• Linthicum, Maryland
• Lutherville-Timonium, Maryland
• Middle River, Maryland
• North Laurel, Maryland
• Owings Mills, Maryland
• Overlea, Maryland
• Parkville, Maryland
• Pasadena, Maryland
• Perry Hall, Maryland
• Pikesville, Maryland
• Randallstown, Maryland
• Reisterstown, Maryland
• Savage, Maryland
• Severna Park, Maryland
• Towson, Maryland
• Westminster, Maryland
• Woodlawn, Maryland

Washington, D.C. area

• Washington, D.C.
• Bethesda, Maryland
• Bowie, Maryland
• Chevy Chase, Maryland
• College Park, Maryland
• Frederick, Maryland
• Gaithersburg, Maryland
• Germantown, Maryland
• Greenbelt, Maryland
• Laurel, Maryland
• Potomac, Maryland
• Rockville, Maryland
• Silver Spring, Maryland
• Upper Marlboro, Maryland
• Alexandria, Virginia
• Annandale, Virginia
• Arlington, Virginia
• Ashburn, Virginia
• Chantilly, Virginia
• Fairfax, Virginia
• Falls Church, Virginia
• Fredericksburg, Virginia
• Great Falls, Virginia
• Herndon, Virginia
• Langley, Virginia
• Leesburg, Virginia
• Manassas, Virginia
• Manassas Park, Virginia
• Massaponax, Virginia
• McLean, Virginia
• Mt. Vernon, Virginia
• Reston, Virginia
• Springfield, Virginia
• Tysons, Virginia
• Vienna, Virginia

Outlying areas

• California, Maryland
• Cambridge, Maryland
• Centreville, Maryland
• Easton, Maryland
• Frederick, Maryland
• Hagerstown, Maryland
• Hancock, Maryland
• Lexington Park, Maryland
• Thurmont, Maryland
• Chambersburg, Pennsylvania
• McConnellsburg, Pennsylvania
• Waynesboro, Pennsylvania
• Culpeper, Virginia
• Warrenton, Virginia
• Winchester, Virginia
• Charles Town, West Virginia
• Martinsburg, West Virginia

Economy

Primary industries

Biotechnology

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 Northern Virginia and Montgomery County, Maryland to be close to the Pentagon in Arlington. Local defense contractors include Lockheed Martin, the largest, as well as Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, BAE Systems Inc., Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC), Booz Allen Hamilton, Leidos, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), Orbital Sciences Corporation, and AAI Corporation.

Notable company headquarters in the region

Numbers denote Fortune 500 ranking.

Maryland

Baltimore area:

• AAI Corporation (Hunt Valley)
• Advertising.com (Baltimore)
• Allegis Group (Hanover)
• Black & Decker (Towson)
• Ciena Corporation (Hanover)
• Colfax Corporation (Annapolis Junction)
• Constellation Energy (Baltimore)
• Corporate Office Properties Trust (Columbia)
• The Cordish Companies (Baltimore)
• CoverGirl (Hunt Valley)
• Fila USA (Sparks)
• Firaxis Games (Sparks)
• First Friday's Group (Baltimore)
• Legg Mason (Baltimore)
• McCormick & Company (Hunt Valley) 482
• MICROS Systems (Columbia)
• Millennial Media (Baltimore)
• Nielsen Audio (Columbia)
• Pandora Jewelry USA (Baltimore)
• T. Rowe Price (Baltimore) 447
• Transamerica Corporation (Baltimore)
• Sinclair Broadcast Group (Hunt Valley) 465
• Sourcefire (Columbia)
• Sylvan Learning (Baltimore)
• Under Armour (Baltimore)
• W.R. Grace & Co. (Columbia)
• The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company (Towson)

Washington area:

• 2U (company) (Lanham, Maryland)
• ASRC Aerospace Corporation (Greenbelt, Maryland)
• Bethesda Softworks (Rockville)
• Clark Construction (Bethesda)
• Choice Hotels (Rockville)
• Coventry Health Care (Bethesda)
• EagleBank (Bethesda)
• Enviva (Bethesda)
• Federal Realty Investment Trust (Rockville)
• GEICO (Chevy Chase)
• Host Hotels & Resorts (Bethesda) 472
• Hughes Network Systems (Germantown)
• Inovalon (Bowie, Maryland)
• JBG Smith (Chevy Chase)
• Lockheed Martin (Bethesda) 49
• Marriott International (Bethesda) 293
• MedImmune (Gaithersburg)
• New Enterprise Associates (Chevy Chase)
• Novavax (Gaithersburg)
• Radio One (Lanham)
• Ritz-Carlton (Chevy Chase)
• Travel Channel (Chevy Chase)
• TV One (Silver Spring)
• United Therapeutics (Silver Spring)

Northern Virginia

Main article: List of companies headquartered in Northern Virginia

• AES Corporation (Arlington) 194
• Amazon (Crystal City)
• Appian Corporation (Tysons Corner)
• AvalonBay Communities (Arlington)
• Airbus North America (Herndon)
• BAE Systems Inc. (Arlington)
• Bechtel (Reston)
• Bloomberg Industry Group (Arlington)
• Boeing (Arlington) 58
• Booz Allen Hamilton (McLean) 481
• CACI (Arlington)
• Capital One (McLean) 100
• Carfax (Centreville, Virginia)
• Computer Sciences Corporation (Falls Church) 379
• Communications Satellite Corporation (Herndon)
• Comscore (Reston)
• Cvent (Tysons Corner)
• DynCorp International (Falls Church)
• Freddie Mac (McLean) 39
• FNH USA (Fredericksburg)
• FLIR Systems Government and Defense (Arlington)
• Graham Holdings (Arlington)
• Gannett Company (McLean)
• General Dynamics (Falls Church) 90
• GTT Communications (Tysons Corner)
• Hilton Hotels Corporation (McLean) 241
• ICF International (Fairfax)
• Iridium Communications (McLean)
• Stride, Inc. (Herndon)
• Kellogg Brown and Root Services (Arlington)
• Leidos (Reston) 381
• Ligado Networks (Reston)
• Mars, Incorporated (McLean)
• M.C. Dean, Inc. (Dulles)
• MicroStrategy (Tysons Corner)
• Naviance (Arlington)
• Navy Federal Credit Union (Vienna)
• NII Holdings (Reston)
• Northrop Grumman (Falls Church) 114
• NVR Incorporated (Reston) 446
• Orbital Sciences (Dulles)
• Park Hotels & Resorts (Tysons Corner)
• Parsons Corporation (Centreville)
• Rolls-Royce North America (Reston)
• Rosetta Stone (Arlington)
• Science Applications International Corporation (McLean)
• SLM Corporation (Reston) "Sallie Mae"
• Strategic Education, Inc. (Herndon)
• Space Adventures (Vienna)
• Tegna Inc. (Tysons Corner)
• The Motley Fool (Alexandria, Virginia)
• The Teaching Company (Chantilly)
• Verisign (Reston)
• Verizon Business (Ashburn)
• Volkswagen Group of America (Herndon)
• VSE Corporation (Alexandria, Virginia)
• XO Communications (Herndon)

Washington, D.C.

• &pizza
• APCO Worldwide
• Atlantic Media
• Black Entertainment Television
• Blackboard Inc.
• Bluemercury
• Carlyle Group
• Chemonics
• Cogent Communications
• CoStar Group
• Danaher Corporation 239
• Fannie Mae 53
• FiscalNote
• Framebridge
• Gallup
• Mapbox
• Morning Consult
• National Geographic Society
• NGP VAN
• Pepco Holdings 279
• Social Tables
• The Washington Post Company
• Vox Media
• XM Satellite Radio

Sports

Table of professional teams and venues

Transportation

Commercial airports

Rail transit systems

Intercity Rail

• Amtrak

Commuter/Regional Rail

• MARC Train
• Virginia Railway Express

Heavy Rail Subway

• Washington Metro
• Baltimore Metro SubwayLink

Light Rail

• Baltimore Light RailLink
• DC Streetcar (until 2026)
• Purple Line (under construction; projected opening 2027)

Major highways

Interstates

• [[File:I-66.svg|20px]] Interstate 66
• [[File:I-70.svg|20px]] Interstate 70
• [[File:I-81.svg|20px]] Interstate 81
• [[File:I-83.svg|20px]] Interstate 83
• [[File:I-95.svg|20px]] Interstate 95
• [[File:I-97.svg|20px]] Interstate 97
• [[File:I-195.svg|25px]] Interstate 195
• [[File:I-270.svg|25px]] Interstate 270
• [[File:I-295.svg|25px]] Interstate 295
• [[File:I-370.svg|25px]] Interstate 370
• [[File:I-395.svg|25px]] Interstate 395 (District of Columbia-Virginia)
• [[File:I-395.svg|25px]] Interstate 395 (Maryland)
• [[File:I-495.svg|25px]] Interstate 495 (Capital Beltway)
• [[File:I-595.svg|25px]] Interstate 595 (Unsigned)
• [[File:I-695.svg|25px]] Interstate 695 (District of Columbia)
• [[File:I-695.svg|25px]] Interstate 695 (Baltimore Beltway)
• [[File:I-795.svg|25px]] Interstate 795
• [[File:I-895.svg|25px]] Interstate 895

U.S. Routes

• [[File:US 1.svg|20px]] U.S. Route 1
• [[File:US 11.svg|20px]] U.S. Route 11
• [[File:US 15.svg|20px]] U.S. Route 15
• [[File:US 29.svg|20px]] U.S. Route 29
• [[File:US 40.svg|20px]] U.S. Route 40
• [[File:US 50.svg|20px]] U.S. Route 50
• [[File:US 301.svg|25px]] U.S. Route 301
• [[File:US 340.svg|25px]] U.S. Route 340

State Routes

• [[File:DC-295.svg|frameless|25x25px]] District of Columbia Route 295 (Anacostia Freeway)
• [[File:MD Route 2.svg|20px]] Maryland Route 2
• [[File:MD Route 4.svg|20px]] Maryland Route 4
• [[File:MD Route 5.svg|20px]] Maryland Route 5
• [[File:MD Route 26.svg|20px]] Maryland Route 26
• [[File:MD Route 32.svg|20px]] Maryland Route 32
• [[File:MD Route 97.svg|20x20px]] Maryland Route 97
• [[File:MD Route 100.svg|25px]] Maryland Route 100
• [[File:MD Route 200.svg|25px]] Maryland Route 200 (Intercounty Connector)
• [[File:MD Route 410.svg|frameless|25x25px]] Maryland Route 410 (East-West Highway)
• [[File:MD Route 295.svg|25px]] Baltimore–Washington Parkway (Maryland Route 295)
• [[File:MD Route 355.svg|25px]] Maryland Route 355
• [[File:Virginia 3.svg|20px]] Virginia State Route 3
• [[File:Virginia 7.svg|20px]] Virginia State Route 7
• [[File:Virginia 9.svg|20px]] Virginia State Route 9
• [[File:Virginia 28.svg|20px]] Virginia State Route 28
• [[File:Virginia 267.svg|25px]] Virginia State Route 267
• [[File:Virginia 286.svg|25px]] Virginia State Route 286 (Fairfax County Parkway)
• [[File:Virginia 289.svg|25px]] Virginia State Route 289 (Franconia–Springfield Parkway)
• [[File:WV-9.svg|20px]] West Virginia Route 9

Notes

References

References

1. "Gross Domestic Product by County and Metropolitan Area". [[Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis]].
2. "CSA Median household income".
3. "Raleigh-Durham area ranks third in U.S. for college degrees".
4. [https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Bulletin-18-04.pdf "OMB BULLETIN NO. 18-04: Revised Delineations of Metropolitan Statistical Areas, Micropolitan Statistical Areas, and Combined Statistical Areas, and Guidance on Uses of the Delineations of These Areas"]. Office of Management and Budget. September 14, 2018.
5. "Caroline County Economic Development".
6. "Washington DC South".
7. "King George County Department of Economic Development".
8. Gardner, D'Vera Cohn and Amy. (16 March 2006). "3 Virginia Exurbs Near Top of U.S. in Growth".
9. "FAMPO Technical Committee – FAMPO".
10. (August 12, 2021). "2020 Population and Housing State Data". [[U.S. Census Bureau]].
11. "COG & Our Region - Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments".
12. "Transportation Planning Board - Transportation - Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments".
13. O'Leary, __Sara Ann. "Home - Baltimore Metropolitan Council".
14. [http://www.baltometro.org/content/view/6/65/ About BMC – Baltimore Metropolitan Council] {{webarchive. link. (2007-05-01)
15. "U.S. Census Bureau – Principal cities of metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas".
16. "Metropolitan And Micropolitan Statistical Areas And Principal Cities, November 2007, with codes".
17. "Whiting-Turner Contracting on the Forbes America's Largest Private Companies List".
18. "The Boeing Company: General Information".
19. (2 October 2024). "Final CY23 Enplanements at All Commercial Service Airports".
20. Weiner, Rachel. (9 Oct 2025). "Budget cut means D.C. Streetcar will shut down in March". The Washington Post.