A New England city and town area (NECTA) was a geographic and statistical entity defined by the U.S. federal government for use in the six-state New England region of the United States.NECTAs are analogous to metropolitan statistical areas and micropolitan statistical areas and are defined using the same criteria, except that they are defined on the basis of New England towns instead of entire counties.Tabulations of census information by NECTA was discontinued effective July 2023.[1] In New England, towns (which are classified by the United States Census Bureau as minor civil divisions) are a much more important level of government than counties.The following is a list of metropolitan and micropolitan NECTAs as defined by the Office of Management and Budget.