Slide 16 of 29
Notes:
Under Metropolitan Area standards, the county (or counties) that contains the largest city becomes the "central county" (counties), along with any adjacent counties that have at least 50 percent of their population in the urbanized area surrounding the largest city. Additional "outlying counties" are included in the MA if they meet specified requirements of commuting to the central counties and other selected requirements of metropolitan character (such as population density and percent urban). In New England, the MAs are defined in terms of cities and towns rather than counties.
Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) are generally smaller metropolitan areas under 1,000,000 in population.
Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Areas (CMSAs) are large metropolitan areas such as NY, Chicago, LA, etc. that have over 1,000,000 in population. Within CMSAs are the smaller components called Primary Metropolitan Statistical Areas (PMSAs). For example in the Washington-Baltimore CMSA, there are three PMSAs: Washington, Baltimore, and Hagerstown.
As of the June 30, 1999 OMB announcement detailing the 1990 MA standards, there were 258 MSAs, and 18 CMSAs comprising 73 PMSAs in the United States. In addition, there were 3 MSAs, 1 CMSA, and 3 PMSAs in Puerto Rico.
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) announced revised standards for metropolitan statistical areas, and a new type of entity called a micropolitan statistical area, in the Federal Register on December 27, 2000. However, the OMB will not identify the entities that are based on the new standards and Census 2000 data until mid-2003. The Census 2000 data products present information for the metropolitan areas and central cities announced by the OMB on June 30, 1999, and therefore are in effect on Census Day, April 1, 2000; these entities reflect the 1990 metropolitan area standards.
