New England city and town area

A New England city and town area (NECTA) is a geographic and statistical entity defined by the U.S. federal government for use in the six-state New England region of the United States. NECTAs are analogous to metropolitan statistical areas and micropolitan statistical areas and are defined using the same criteria, except that they are defined on the basis of New England towns instead of entire counties. NECTAs are classified as either metropolitan or micropolitan NECTAs. A micropolitan NECTA has an urban core with a population of at least 10,000 but less than 50,000, whereas a metropolitan NECTA has an urban core with a population of at least 50,000.

In New England, towns (which are classified by the United States Census Bureau as minor civil divisions) are a much more important level of government than counties. Because towns are smaller than counties, a NECTA usually provides a much closer approximation to the real metropolitan area than a metropolitan statistical area does.

Large NECTAs (with population greater than 2.5 million) may be subdivided into smaller groupings known as NECTA Divisions. Adjacent NECTAs that have a high degree of employment interchange may also be combined to form Combined NECTAS (or CNECTAs). NECTAs that are part of a CNECTA retain their separate identities.

List of NECTAs

Table

Metropolitan NECTAs as of 2010 census

Rank	NECTA	State(s)	2010 Pop	2000 Pop	Δ Pop
1	Boston–Cambridge–Quincy	MA-NH	4,703,187	4,503,683	+4.43%
2	Providence–Fall River–Warwick	RI-MA	1,301,595	1,292,942	+0.67%
3	Hartford–West Hartford–East Hartford	CT	1,121,463	1,059,878	+5.81%
4	Bridgeport–Stamford–Norwalk	CT	926,465	892,283	+3.83%
5	Springfield	MA-CT	683,800	660,837	+3.47%
6	New Haven	CT	597,172	571,310	+4.53%
7	Worcester	MA-CT	577,537	539,828	+6.99%
8	Portland–South Portland–Biddeford	ME	357,412	333,624	+7.13%
9	Norwich–New London	CT-RI	278,598	265,288	+5.02%
10	Barnstable Town	MA	239,675	244,257	-1.88%
11	Waterbury	CT	204,451	195,540	+4.56%
12	Burlington–South Burlington	VT	198,627	187,105	+6.16%
13	Manchester	NH	187,596	176,663	+6.19%
14	New Bedford	MA	175,502	170,161	+3.14%
15	Danbury	CT	163,260	155,304	+5.12%
16	Rochester–Dover	NH-ME	149,471	135,367	+10.42%
17	Leominster–Fitchburg–Gardner	MA	147,818	143,905	+2.72%
18	Bangor	ME	135,632	124,906	+8.59%
19	Lewiston–Auburn	ME	106,216	101,778	+4.36%
20	Portsmouth	NH-ME	73,274	71,232	+2.87%
21	Pittsfield	MA	72,051	73,297	-1.70%

By state as of 2013

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The following is a list of metropolitan and micropolitan NECTAs as defined by the Office of Management and Budget. Definitions are as of February 2013.

Connecticut

• Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT Metropolitan NECTA
• Danbury, CT Metropolitan NECTA
• Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT Metropolitan NECTA
• New Haven, CT Metropolitan NECTA
• Norwich-New London-Westerly, CT-RI Metropolitan NECTA
• Torrington, CT Micropolitan NECTA
• Waterbury, CT Metropolitan NECTA

Maine

• Augusta, ME Micropolitan NECTA
• Bangor, ME Metropolitan NECTA
• Brunswick, ME Micropolitan NECTA
• Lewiston-Auburn, ME Metropolitan NECTA
• Portland-South Portland, ME Metropolitan NECTA
• Sanford, ME Micropolitan NECTA
• Waterville, ME Micropolitan NECTA

Massachusetts

• Athol, MA Micropolitan NECTA
• Barnstable Town, MA Metropolitan NECTA
• Boston-Cambridge-Nashua, MA-NH Metropolitan NECTA
  • Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA NECTA Division
  • Brockton-Bridgewater-Easton, MA NECTA Division
  • Framingham, MA NECTA Division
  • Haverhill-Newburyport-Amesbury Town, MA-NH NECTA Division
  • Lawrence-Methuen Town-Salem, MA-NH NECTA Division
  • Lowell-Billerica-Chelmsford, MA-NH NECTA Division
  • Lynn-Saugus-Marblehead, MA NECTA Division
  • Nashua, NH-MA NECTA Division
  • Peabody-Salem-Beverly, MA NECTA Division
  • Taunton-Middleborough-Norton, MA NECTA Division
• Greenfield Town, MA Micropolitan NECTA
• Leominster-Gardner, MA Metropolitan NECTA
• New Bedford, MA Metropolitan NECTA
• North Adams, MA-VT Micropolitan NECTA
• Pittsfield, MA Metropolitan NECTA
• Springfield, MA-CT Metropolitan NECTA
• Vineyard Haven, MA Micropolitan NECTA
• Worcester, MA-CT Metropolitan NECTA

New Hampshire

• Berlin, NH Micropolitan NECTA
• Concord, NH Micropolitan NECTA
• Dover-Durham, NH-ME Metropolitan NECTA
• Keene, NH Micropolitan NECTA
• Laconia, NH Micropolitan NECTA
• Lebanon, NH-VT Micropolitan NECTA
• Manchester, NH Metropolitan NECTA
• Portsmouth, NH-ME Metropolitan NECTA

Rhode Island

• Providence-Warwick, RI-MA Metropolitan NECTA

Vermont

• Barre, VT Micropolitan NECTA
• Bennington, VT Micropolitan NECTA
• Burlington-South Burlington, VT Metropolitan NECTA
• Rutland, VT Micropolitan NECTA

External links

• Census Bureau maps of NECTAs