Greater St. Louis is the
metropolitan area that completely surrounds and includes the
independent city of
St. Louis (its principal city) and parts of the U.S. states of
Missouri and
Illinois. Depending on the counties included in the area, it can refer to the
St. Louis, MO-IL metropolitan statistical area (MSA) or the
St. Louis-St. Charles-Farmington, MO-IL combined statistical area (CSA). As well as the city St. Louis, the area serves the
Southern Illinois counties of
Bond,
Calhoun,
Clinton,
Jersey,
Macoupin,
Madison,
Monroe, and
St. Clair (known collectively as the
Metro East); the
Missouri counties of
Franklin,
Jefferson,
Lincoln,
St. Charles,
St. Louis County (separate from and not inclusive of the city of St. Louis),
Warren,
Washington, and a portion of
Crawford County. The CSA includes all of the MSA listed above and the
Farmington, MO micropolitan statistical area, which includes Washington and
St. Francois Counties. The CSA was the
19th largest in the United States in 2013, with a population of 2,913,673, while the MSA was the
19th largest in the country that year with a population of 2,815,467.