The Halifax urban area , also referred to as Metropolitan Halifax, Metro Halifax, and sometimes simply as Halifax, is the most populous urban area in Atlantic Canada and home to Nova Scotia's capital district.

While the majority of urban areas include a city surrounded by towns and suburbs that are often self or separately governed from the city, the Halifax Urban Area is unusual in that the entire urban, suburban and rural commuter-shed - as well as a substantial unrelated rural area - are all a part of a single-tier municipal corporation called the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM), a regional municipality that governs the entire county, covering a geographic area larger than the province of Prince Edward Island.

The Halifax Urban Area benefits from a process of increased rural depopulation and corresponding urban growth in Atlantic Canada during the late 20th century — a demographic shift that was delayed several decades in the region compared with other parts of North America.