Nielsen Media Research, the company that determines the viewership ratings for television programs, divides the U.S. into 210 non-overlapping Designated Market Areas -- regions of the country the company uses to determine ratings. According to Nielsen, counties are assigned to the market area their residents most often get their television signals from.

Market areas are named after major cities within their borders, but are usually larger than that city's limits. For example, the New York City market area spreads halfway through New Jersey to the south, encompassing several other large and small cities. But a majority of the people in the New York market area watch broadcast television stations whose signals emanate from New York City.

For the purposes of this report, we examined the top 50 Nielsen market areas in the country. Those market areas are highlighted in yellow on the map to the left and listed by population size in descending order in the menu to the right.

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