Transition areas between one metro area and the other

[thebeloitmoderate]

I.E Trenton and Mercer County is the transition point between the NYC and Philly metro areas

[King of Kensington]

Howard County for DC/Baltimore?

[Klobmentum Mutilated Herself]

Kenosha/Waukegan for Milwaukee/Chicago.

[Roronoa D. Law]

Howard County MD is the only transition area between metro areas that I can think of that is continuously built.

Other than that, there are places like Lakeland FL, San Marcos TX, and Burlington NC. Although sprawl hasn't completely connected the two neighboring metros like the NE corridor or completely taken over the town like Atlanta and Gainsville.

[they don't love you like i love you]

It's not exactly clear where the St. Cloud area ends and the Twin Cities exurbs begin. I would say that Monticello/Big Lake is when you're in clear Twin Cities exurbia territory though.

[lfromnj]

Warren County Ohoi between Dayton/Cincinatti metro.

Also Northern Summit County for between Cleveland/Akron.

[Boobs]

Soon, north Comal/south Hays between San Antonio and Austin. Currently, San Marcos is the outermost, most broad definition of the Austin metro area, while New Braunfels is in the exurban sphere of SA.

Arguably the San Mateo area as between SF and SJ.

South OC as a transitional zone between LA and SD - Camp Pendleton being a dividing line.

Monroe, MI between Detroit and Toledo.

[they don't love you like i love you]

Putnam County, WV is another example, it's officially part of the Huntington metro but in practice is much closer to being suburbs of Charleston.

[Unelectable Bystander]

I think Wisconsin has several good candidates.

-Kenosha/Racine as mentioned above. Both are their own cities but there’s also a lot of suburban area and you can’t really call it suburbs of Chicago or Milwaukee

-There’s a bit of rurals in between them and the cities (and they’re not exactly the same region), but Rockford/Beloit/Janesville sort of connects the edge of the Chicago suburbs to Dane county. All 3 have a bit of a rust belt feel too

-The Milwaukee exurbs expand pretty far west towards Madison. There’s several lake towns and random towns with suburban feel, but they’re way too far to be considered MKE suburbs. I’m not even sure what you’d call this region

-The area between Milwaukee and Green Bay doesn’t have as much rural area as you would think. It’s split between Sheboygan, Fond Du Lac, and the beginning of the BOW counties. None of these are large enough to constitute their own metro areas and none of them are suburbs, but they collectively form a mini northeast Wisconsin region

-In other states, I think the area between Dayton and Cincy is pretty populated (but I don’t know much about it)

-There are also several examples of mid-sized cities that happen to lie on the outskirts of a larger city’s suburbs. I’m not sure if this would count

[JGibson]

In Illinois, Macoupin County has that transition. The county is in the St. Louis MSA, and both STL and Springfield/Champaign/Decatur stations have the county in their viewing areas and St. Louis and Springfield radio stations can be heard.

Southern Macoupin (Staunton, Bunker Hill, Brighton, Gillespie): STL-influenced.
Northeastern Macoupin (Virden, Girard, possibly Carlinville): Springfield-influenced.
Northwestern Macoupin (Chesterfield, Modesto, Palmyra): Jacksonville-influenced.

The dividing line between STL and Springfield may be either IL 16 or IL 108.

Next door Montgomery County also works to a lesser extent, as Litchfield serves as the transition between the two spheres of influence.

[thebeloitmoderate]

Southernmost Missouri/Blytheville Arkansas begins the transition from the Jonesboro, AR metro area to the Memphis area even if there is not a lot of suburbs/sprawl in that area.
Zapata county is the first true RGV county if you drive southeast on US 83 without crossing the Mexico border

[GregTheGreat657]

Springfield, OH between Columbus/Dayton
Kenosha, WI between Chicago/Milwaukee
Livingston, MI between Detroit/Lansing
Williamsburg, VA between Hampton Roads/Richmond

[Хahar 🤔]

Arguably the San Mateo area as between SF and SJ.

South OC as a transitional zone between LA and SD - Camp Pendleton being a dividing line.

I think it's difficult to argue for San Mateo, since the Bay Area is a single metropolitan area. There are not "San Jose suburbs" as opposed to "San Francisco suburbs" and there is ample commuter flow in both directions.

Camp Pendleton does represent a pretty hard line between San Diego and Los Angeles, which is striking when you drive along 5 and there's a vast empty space. I think it's more interesting to look at the 15 corridor here, since Escondido is clearly San Diego and Temecula is clearly Los Angeles and there are some people who live in between.

[King of Kensington]

The Census Bureau has San Jose separate from San Francisco, the Inland Empire separate from L.A. and Fairfield County, Connecticut separate from NYC, based on commuting pattern definitions.  But it's hard to argue they're separate metros really.

[thebeloitmoderate]

Speaking of transitions depending what you drive in I-95 New Haven, CT begins/ends the NYC metro area as it has both it's own tv market and NYC tv stations even though it is the same distance to NYC as from Trenton.
Also Going east from Reading or Allentown though SE you go from the Lehigh Valley into the Philadelphia suburbs of Montgomery County.
Dekalb, IL has Rockford TV/Radio even though it is more associated with the Chicagoland region than the Rockford area

[Cokeland Saxton]

Ypsilanti, MI between Ann Arbor and Detroit's outer suburbs

[GregTheGreat657]

Batavia, NY between Rochester and Buffalo

[chalmetteowl]

Lafayette-Baton Rouge: Atchafalaya Swamp
Baton Rouge-New Orleans: St James Parish, Eastern Livingston Parish
Monroe-Shreveport: Ruston, LA

[GregTheGreat657]

Youngstown for Cleveland/Pittsburgh

[Tintrlvr]

Youngstown for Cleveland/Pittsburgh

Neither metro is big enough to stretch to Youngstown to begin with; Youngstown is just a separate, smaller metro between those two.

[they don't love you like i love you]

Although Cleveland to Akron is a valid example.

[thebeloitmoderate]

Northernmost LA county begins the transition from the L.A metro area to the Bakersfield metropolitan area