consolidated metropolitan statistical area (CMSA)

U.S. Government classification term for an area consisting of two or more overlapping or interlocking urban communities (known as primary metropolitan statistical areas) with a total population of at least one million.

CMSAs comprise the 25 largest metropolitan areas in the United States. The New York CMSA, for example, includes the primary metropolitan statistical areas of New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island and New York-New Jersey-Connecticut. See also metropolitan statistical area; primary metropolitan statistical area.