Nurmijärvi

Nurmijärvi (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈnurmiˌjærʋi]) is a municipality in Finland, located in the southern interior of the country. Nurmijärvi is situated in the Uusimaa region. The population of Nurmijärvi is approximately 45,000. It is the 26th most populous municipality in Finland and the most populous municipality without city status (Finnish: kaupunki). Nurmijärvi is part of the Helsinki metropolitan area, which has approximately 1.61 million inhabitants.

Nurmijärvi is located 37 kilometres (23 mi) north of the capital, Helsinki. Nurmijärvi's neighbouring municipalities are Espoo, Vantaa, Tuusula, Hyvinkää and Vihti. In recent decades, Nurmijärvi has been one of the fastest growing municipalities in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area and in Finland as a whole because of its proximity to Helsinki. The municipality does not have a single clear residential settlement, but is divided into mainly four areas: the largest urban area in the southern part of the municipality, Klaukkala (over 20,000 inhabitants); the administrative centre of the municipality, Nurmijärvi (almost 8,000 inhabitants); the northern settlement of Rajamäki (over 7,000 inhabitants); and the small settlement of Röykkä (over 1,500 inhabitants) in the northwestern part.

Nurmijärvi literally means "lawn lake" although the lake that gave the municipality its name was drained in the early 20th century and is now nothing more than some flat fields near the village centre. Nurmijärvi is one of three municipalities in the Uusimaa region that does not have a Swedish name, the others being Askola and Mäntsälä.