Tracking metropolitan America into the 21st century - Population ...

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Table 2. Number ofMicroSAs by StateRank State Micros1 Texas 412 Ohio 293 North Carolina 264 Indiana 255 Georgia 246 Illinois 237 Pennsylvania 218 Missouri 209 Mississippi 2010 Tennessee 2011 Michigan 1812 Minnesota 1813 Kentucky 1714 Louisiana 1715 Oklahoma 1716 Kansas 1517 New York 1518 Iowa 1519 Arkansas 1420 New Mexico 1421 Oregon 1322 South Carolina 1323 Wisconsin 1324 Alabama 1325 Florida 1126 Nebraska 1027 South Dakota 928 Washington 929 California 930 Idaho 831 Colorado 732 Wyoming 733 West Virginia 634 New Hampshire 635 Arizona 536 Montana 537 North Dakota 538 Vermont 539 Utah 540 Maryland 441 Nevada 442 Alaska 343 Hawaii 344 Virginia 345 Connecticut 246 Maine 247 Delaware 148 District of Columbia 049 Massachusetts 050 New Jersey 051 Rhode Island 0Source: OMBNote: Micropolitan areas that cross stateboundaries are counted once in each state.Frey (2004a) highlight the variationsin micropolitan area demographic profiles.They find that the fastest-growingMicroSAs are located nearby largegrowing MetroSAs, while the moreremote MicroSAs are generally smallerand slow-growing. Overall, MicroSApopulations tend to be older, poorer,more conservative, less educated, andless racially diverse than their metropolitancounterparts. 15C. Under the new system, 81 of thenation’s 102 largest metropolitanareas have undergone changes interritory and population.Analysts and even casual observersfirst encountering the new metropolitanareas will likely ask: How differentare the new standards from the oldones? The simple answer is: quite abit. The changes are especially pronouncedin the nation’s larger metropolitanareas, which form the focus ofmany Brookings Metropolitan PolicyProgram analyses. This section firstdescribes the changes from the old tonew systems at the county level, thenexplores how those county transitionsre-shaped the nation’s largest metropolitanareas.County ShiftsBecause both the old and new systemsare county-based, it is possible to viewthe extent of change between the twosystems from the county level. Betweenthe systems, counties could make sixpossible transitions, shown in Table 3.Of the 3,141 counties that make upthe United States, a plurality (43 percent)remained “undefined”—that is,they were non-metropolitan under theold system and are non-core-basedunder the new system. They includethe vast number of small, rural countiesfound mostly in the interior states.The next largest proportion of counties(26 percent) remained metropolitanbetween the old and new systems, andof these the vast majority (92 percent)remained within the same metropolitanarea. So roughly 70 percent ofcounties retained a comparable classificationin the transition to the newstandards.Other counties changed classificationdue to the introduction of themicropolitan concept, new rules fordefining metropolitan areas, changesin commuting patterns, or simple populationgrowth and decentralization.Counties that changed from non-metropolitanto micropolitan were fairlycommon, accounting for 21 percentof all counties and nearly 10 percentof U.S. population. Nine percent ofU.S. counties jumped from non-metropolitanto metropolitan status. Farsmaller proportions moved down thehierarchy from metropolitan tomicropolitan (1 percent) and frommetropolitan to non-core-based status(just 5 counties).As a result of these transitions, agreater share of the nation’s populationis now considered metropolitan(83 percent, up from 80 percent). Onnet, 242 counties moved from nonmetropolitanto metropolitan standing(46 from metropolitan to non-metropolitanand 288 from non-metropolitanto metropolitan). Some becamepart of the 44 new metropolitan areasannounced under the new system,while others were added onto thefringe of existing metropolitan areas.Of the 46 counties that changed statusfrom metropolitan to non-metropolitan,only five did not becomepart of a MicroSA. The 41 previouslymetropolitan counties that becamemicropolitan did not necessarily shrinkin size, but generally failed to meetthe new more stringent commutingthreshold for inclusion in metropolitanareas.Metropolitan ShiftsDespite the fact that a majority of thenation’s counties have effectively thesame designations under the new system,the county composition of most ofthe nation’s largest metropolitan areaschanged in some way. In fact, 81 of the102 metropolitan areas with popula-The Living Cities Census Series
Table 3. County TransitionsPercent of Population Percent ofOld Classification New Classification Number Counties in 2000 PopulationMetropolitan Metropolitan 801 25.5 223,113,722 79.3Metropolitan Micropolitan 41 1.3 2,856,237 1.0Metropolitan Non-core-based 5 0.2 105,216 0.0Non-metropolitan Metropolitan 288 9.2 9,466,218 3.4Non-metropolitan Micropolitan 649 20.7 26,556,061 9.4Non-metropolitan Non-core-based 1357 43.2 19,324,452 6.9Source: Authors’ calculations of OMB and Census 2000 dataTable 4. Metropolitan Transitions, Metros with 500,000 orGreater Population, 2000Transition Type Number of Metros Percent of Top 102Geographical Changes:Added counties (net) 29 28.4Removed counties (net) 13 12.7Split into two or more metros 9 8.8Combined into one metro 23 22.5Changed in more than one way 7 6.9Stayed the same 21 20.6Total 102 100.0Population Changes:*Gained Population 56 54.9Lost Population 25 24.5Same Population 21 20.6Total 102 100.0*As measured by comparing total metro population in 2000 according to the old and newdefinitions.Source: Authors’ calculations of OMB datations of at least 500,000 under the oldsystem are defined somewhat differentlyunder the new system. As aresult, two-thirds (56) of the 81 metrosgained population, while the rest (25)lost population. Here, we provide illustrativeexamples of the several differentways in which metropolitan areas havebeen redefined by the new standards.Table 4 shows the extent of each ofthese types of changes among the 102metro areas when we compare the oldMSAs/PMSAs to the new MetroSAs.Adding Counties to MetroAreas—AtlantaTwenty-nine of the 102 largest metropolitanareas experienced a net additionof counties in the transition to thenew system. Most of these metro areasare located in the middle and southernregions of the country, where populationis growing and spreading outquickly. 16Atlanta offers the most dramaticexample of a metropolitan area withadditional counties in its definition.Metropolitan Atlanta is undergoingrapid population growth, mostly in itssuburbs, which grew by 44 percent inthe 1990s. The new definition ofmetro Atlanta reflects this sprawlingsuburban pattern and offers more thanone choice for delineating the area.Under the old standards, Atlanta was asingle MSA made up of 20 counties.The new system creates the 28-countyAtlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GAMetroSA (the original 20 countiesplus eight additional ones). It alsogives the option of using the 33-county Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Gainesville Combined StatisticalArea (CSA), which includes theGainesville MetroSA (one county),and four MicroSAs (one county each)(Figure 6).Removing Counties from MetroAreas—Knoxville, Las Vegas,and Washington, D.C.Most of the 13 metropolitan areas thatexperienced a net loss of counties arelocated in the eastern half of theUnited States. In the West, only LasVegas, NV lost counties from its metropolitandefinition.As noted earlier, the vast majorityof counties removed from metropolitanareas became part of micropolitanareas, so they do not necessarily representareas that are losing population.In almost all cases in whichmicropolitan areas are created on theoutskirts of metropolitan areas, Com-November 2004 • The Brookings Institution The Living Cities Census Series 9
Page 1 and 2: Metropolitan Policy ProgramTracking
Page 5 and 6: the MSA/CMSA combined list (276area
Page 7: Table 1. Geographic and Demographic
Page 14 and 15: most cases, the result is a longern
Page 16 and 17: analysis in one large region, New Y
Page 18 and 19: over time as users gradually adapt
Page 20 and 21: ResearchAs OMB’s suggestions indi
Page 22 and 23: Appendix A. Definitions of Metropol
Page 24 and 25: Appendix B. Comparing Old and New S
Page 26 and 27: Appendix C. Metropolitan Statistica
Page 28 and 29: Endnotes1. In 1947, the Bureau of t
Page 30 and 31: ReferencesBrown, David L. and Louis
Page 32: About the Living Cities Census Seri

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