- Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state located in the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware to its southeast, Maryland to its south, forming the Mason–Dixon line, West Virginia to its southwest, Ohio to its west, the Canadian province of Ontario to its northwest via Lake Erie, New York to its north, and the Delaware River and New Jersey to its east. Pennsylvania is the fifth-most populous U.S. state, home to over 13 million residents as of the 2020 United States census, and the ninth-highest state by population density. It is the 33rd-largest state by land area. The largest metropolitan statistical area is the Philadelphia metropolitan area/Delaware Valley, centered on Philadelphia, the state’s most populous city and sixth-most populous U.S. city, and an expanding biopharmaceutical, commercial, educational, entrepreneurial/venture capital, industrial, and transportational hub. Pennsylvania’s second-largest metropolitan area, Greater Pittsburgh, is centered in and around Pittsburgh, also a biopharmaceutical hub and the Commonwealth’s second-largest city. Geographically situated between the two larger metros lies Harrisburg, the capital city of Pennsylvania.
