The U.S. state of Washington has 29 statistical areas that have been delineated by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
The state historically had three metropolitan areas: Seattle, Spokane, and Tacoma.
Seattle and Tacoma were eventually merged, while other metropolitan areas were added in the 1970s and 1980s.
[2] The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has designated more than 1,000 statistical areas for the United States and Puerto Rico.
[3] These statistical areas are important geographic delineations of population clusters used by the OMB, the United States Census Bureau, planning organizations, and federal, state, and local government entities.