Regional Plan Association and United Way of Tri-State share a common constituency—the New York/New Jersey/Connecticut Metropolitan Region. It is a region that has grown up around the mouth of the Hudson River to become the nation’s leading seaport, its financial center, the command post of a burgeoning world economy, and home to 20 million people of incredibly diverse backgrounds.
Although it has no natural boundary and thousands of political boundaries, the Region is but a single economy—what happens in one part affects all others. People can choose easily where they want to live, work, shop and play within the Tri-State Region because of a remarkable transportation network of highways, railroads, subways and buses.
Every day more than three million people come into the Manhattan Central Business District from the outer boroughs of New York City, from as far south as Trenton in New Jersey, from the whole of Long Island, from southwestern Connecticut and from the Mid- Hudson beyond Poughkeepsie. An area no bigger than Kennedy Airport, Manhattan depends on surrounding areas for the bulk of its work force and helps to fuel local economies throughout the Region.