Erie /ˈɪəri/ is a city located in northwestern Pennsylvania, United States. Named for the lake and the Native American tribe that resided along its southern shore, Erie is the state's fourth-largest city (after Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Allentown), with a population of 102,000. It was the third-largest city in the state until 1999. It is the 2nd largest city in Western Pennsylvania (after Pittsburgh). Erie's Metropolitan Area consists of approximately 280,000 residents and an Urbanized Area population of approximately 195,000. The city is the seat of government for Erie County and the principal city of the Erie, PA Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Erie is near Buffalo, New York, Cleveland, Ohio, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Once teeming with heavy industry, Erie's manufacturing sector remains prominent in the local economy, though service industries, healthcare, higher education, and tourism are emerging as greater economic drivers. Millions visit Erie for recreation at Presque Isle State Park, as well as attractions like the casino and horse racetrack named for the state park.
In the United States, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) is a geographical region with a relatively high population density at its core and close economic ties throughout the area. Such regions are neither legally incorporated as a city or town would be, nor are they legal administrative divisions like counties or separate entities such as states. As such, the precise definition of any given metropolitan area can vary with the source. A typical metropolitan area is centered on a single large city that wields substantial influence over the region (e.g., Chicago or Atlanta). However, some metropolitan areas contain more than one large city with no single municipality holding a substantially dominant position (e.g., Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, Norfolk-Virginia Beach (Hampton Roads), Riverside–San Bernardino or Minneapolis–Saint Paul).
MSAs are defined by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and used by the Census Bureau and other federal government agencies for statistical purposes.
Erie County is a county located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 census, the population was 280,566. Its county seat is Erie. The county was created in 1800 and later organized in 1803.
Erie County comprises the Erie, PA Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Erie County was established on March 12, 1800 from part of Allegheny County, which absorbed the lands of the disputed Erie Triangle in 1792. Prior to 1792, the region was claimed by both New York and Pennsylvania, so no county demarcations were made until the federal government intervened.
Since Erie County and its newly established neighboring counties of Crawford, Mercer, Venango, and Warren were initially unable to sustain themselves, a five-county administrative organization was established at Crawford County's Meadville to temporarily manage government affairs in the region. Erie elected its own county officials in 1803.
The county was originally settled by immigrants of "Yankee" stock, (immigrants from New England and the western part of New York descended from the English Puritans whose ancestors settled New England in the colonial era). Erie County resembled upstate New York more than it did Pennsylvania with its population primarily consisting of settlers from Connecticut, Rhode Island and Maine. Roads were laid out, post routes established, public buildings erected and people were invited to move there. The original settlers were entirely of New England origins or were Yankees from upstate New York whose families had moved to that place from New England only one generation earlier, in the aftermath of the Revolutionary War. This resulted in Erie County being culturally very contiguous with early New England culture.