ANew England city and town area (NECTA) was a geographic and statistical entity defined by the U.S. federal government for use in the six-stateNew England region of theUnited States. NECTAs are analogous tometropolitan statistical areas andmicropolitan statistical areas and are defined using the same criteria, except that they are defined on the basis ofNew England towns instead of entirecounties. 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. Tabulations of census information by NECTA was discontinued effective July 2023.^[1]

In New England, towns (which are classified by theUnited States Census Bureau asminor 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 realmetropolitan area than ametropolitan 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.

The following is a list of metropolitan and micropolitan NECTAs as defined by theOffice of Management and Budget. Definitions are as of March 2020.^[2]

• Census Bureau maps of NECTAs

• United States Census Bureau geography
• Metropolitan areas of the United States
• New England

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata