Location of the Miami Valley

Most commonly, however, it refers to the economic and cultural-social region centered primarily on Dayton and the Greater Dayton area, including TV and radio markets. Middletown and Hamilton both fall under the economic and cultural-social influence of Cincinnati and thus, do not commonly use the term in this sense. Institutions and enterprises in the Dayton area, such as Miami Valley Career Technology Center, Miami Valley Hospital http://www.mvh.org, Miami Valley Council of the Boy Scouts of America http://www.mvcbsa.com, Miami Valley Storytellers http://www.mvstory.org as well as Upper Valley Medical Center (Troy) http://www.uvmc.com illustrate local usage.

Local television stations WDTN, Think^TV (WPTD and WPTO), WHIO-TV and WRGT include the following counties and cities in the cultural Miami Valley:

• Montgomery County (Dayton)
• Greene County (Xenia)
• Preble County (Eaton)
• Clark County (Springfield)
• Miami County (Troy)
• Darke County (Greenville)
• Champaign County (Urbana)
• Shelby County (Sidney)
• Logan County (Bellefontaine)
• Butler and Warren counties (Middletown)
• Wayne County, Indiana (Richmond, Indiana)

Additionally, WHIO includes the following locations in its news and weather coverage:

• Mercer County (Celina)
• Auglaize County (Wapakoneta)
• Clinton County (Wilmington)
• Union County, Indiana (Liberty, Indiana)
• Randolph County, Indiana (Winchester, Indiana)

Possible Dayton-Cincinnati Merger

According to an article in the Cincinnati Enquirer, as Greater Cincinnati grows northward through Butler County, it is expected to eventually merge with Greater Dayton by 2010, thereby virtually erasing any distinguishable boundary between the two current Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA). As a result, the US Census Bureau will begin reporting the Cincinnati and Dayton metropolitan areas as one by that time. The new Cincinnati-Dayton metroplex will be comparable in nature to that of Baltimore-Washington's and place it within the top 20 most populous metros in the US with a population of nearly 3.1 million.http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070311/BIZ01/703110330