Washington metropolitan area

The Washington metropolitan area, also sometimes referred to as the National Capital Region or colloquially as the DMV (named after District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia), is the metropolitan area containing Washington, D.C., the federal capital of the United States. The metropolitan area includes all of Washington, D.C. and parts of Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia. It is part of the larger Washington–Baltimore combined statistical area. The Washington metropolitan area is one of the most educated and affluent metropolitan areas in the U.S. The metro area anchors the southern end of the densely populated Northeast megalopolis with an estimated total population of 6,385,162 , making it the sixth-largest metropolitan area in the nation, as well as the largest metropolitan area in the Census Bureau's South Atlantic division. The U.S. Office of Management and Budget defines the area as the Washington–Arlington–Alexandria, DC–VA–MD–WV metropolitan statistical area, a metropolitan statistical area used for statistical purposes by the United States Census Bureau and other agencies. The region's three largest cities are the federal city of Washington, D.C., the county (and census-designated place) of Arlington, and the independent city of Alexandria. The Office of Management and Budget also includes the metropolitan statistical area as part of the larger Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area, which has a population of 9,546,579 as of the 2014 Census Estimate. The Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia portions of the metropolitan area are sometimes referred to as the National Capital Region, particularly by federal agencies such as the military, Department of Homeland Security, and some local government agencies. The National Capital Region portion of the Washington metropolitan area is also colloquially known by the abbreviation "DMV", which stands for the "District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia." The region is surrounded by Interstate 495 with the locations inside of it referred to as Inside the Beltway.