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The Delaware Valley, sometimes referred to as Greater Philadelphia or the Philadelphia metropolitan area, is a metropolitan region on the East Coast of the United States that centers on Philadelphia and spans four U.S. states: Southeastern Pennsylvania, South Jersey, northern Delaware, and the northern Eastern Shore of Maryland. At the 2020 census, the Delaware Valley had a total population of 6.288 million, making it the nation's seventh largest and world's 35th largest metropolitan area. The Delaware Valley's urban core is Philadelphia, the nation's sixth-most populous city. Other major urban population centers in the region include Reading, Upper Darby Township, and Chester in Pennsylvania; Atlantic City, Camden, Vineland, and Cherry Hill in New Jersey; and Wilmington and Dover in Delaware. The Philadelphia metropolitan area has a gross domestic product of $431 billion, the ninth-largest among U.S. metropolitan areas. The Delaware Valley has been influential in U.S. history and industry. The area has been home to many people and sites significant to American culture, history, and politics. Philadelphia is sometimes known as "The Birthplace of America", since both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were drafted and signed in the city. The Delaware Valley was home to many other instrumental moments during the American Revolution, and Philadelphia served as the nation's first capital for most of the 18th century until construction of the nation's capital in Washington, D.C. in 1800. Both the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution were signed and ratified in Independence Hall in Philadelphia in 1776 and 1789, respectively. The Delaware Valley is one of the nation's leading regions for academia and academic research with a considerable number of globally-known and highly ranked universities, including the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, an Ivy League university that ranks among the world's top-ranked universities. Other regional universities and colleges include Drexel University, Thomas Jefferson University, Villanova University, Saint Joseph's University, Temple University, Rutgers University–Camden, La Salle University, the University of Delaware, Stockton University, and others. Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley have become a biotechnology and venture capital hub. In addition, South Jersey and the wider Philadelphia metropolitan area have become a U.S. East Coast epicenter for logistics and warehouse construction.
