United States yearbook - 1982 (1)

895
APPENDIX II
M etropolitan Area Concepts and Components
Statistics for metropolitan areas shown in the Statistical Abstract represent areas designated by
the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as standard metropolitan statistical areas
(SMSA’s). Definitions of the SMSA's in terms of their geographic components are presented In
Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas, 1975, Revised
Edition; Statistical Reporter, October 1981 issue; and the Federal Register, January 3, 1980 (part 6)
"Official Standards Followed in Establishing Metropolitan Statistical Areas.” OMB issues amendments
to update this information when changes in SMSA definitions are made.
The list of areas, their components, and population totals, which follows (see p. 898), refers to
the SMSA definitions in effect on June 30,1981. On that date, there were 323 SMSA’s (including 5
in Puerto Rico). The figures in tables A, B, and C below (see p. 896), exclude the 5 areas in Puerto
Rico.
The general concept of a metropolitan area is one of a large population nucleus, together with
adjacent communities which have a high degree of economic and social integration with that nucleus.
Standard definitions of metropolitan statistical areas were first issued by the then Bureau of the
Budget (predecessor of OMB) in 1949, under the designation "Standard Metropolitan Areas"; the
present designation was adopted in 1959. From 1977 to 1981, the SMSA’s were the responsibility
of the Office of Federal Statistical Policy and Standards, Department of Commerce.
The criteria for the establishment and definition of SMSA's were modified In 1958, 1971, and
1975. The current standards were adopted in January 1980; they provide that each SMSA must
include at least;
(a) One city with 50,000 or more inhabitants, or
(b) A Census Bureau-defined urbanized area of at least 50,000 inhabitants and a total SMSA
population of at least 100,000 (75,000 in New England).
The standards provide that the SMSA include as "central county(ies)’’ the county in which the
central city is located, and adjacent counties, if any, with at least 50 percent o f their population in
the urbanized area. Additional "outlying counties” are Included if they meet specified requirements
of commuting to the central counties and of metropolitan character (such as population density and
percent urban). In New England the SMSA’s are defined in terms of cities and towns rather than
counties.
The standards adopted in 1980 were used to define a group of 36 new SMSA’s in June 1981;
the Rapid City, S. Dak. SMSA was abolished at that time. The boundaries of these and the other
SMSA’s that existed on January 1,1980 will be reviewed under the new standards after 1980 commuting
data become available, beginning in 1982.
Revised 1980 standards for determining central cities and titles will be implemented as part of
the 1982 review. Meanwhile, following the pre-1980 criteria, the largest city in each SMSA is designated
a “central city"; in addition there may be up to two additional central cities if specified requirements
are met. With two exceptions the title of each SMSA consists of the name(s) of its
central city(ies) and the name of each State into which the SMSA extends (the Nassau-Suffolk, NY
SMSA has no central cities; the central cities of the Northeast Pennsylvania SMSA are Scranton,
Wilkes-Barre, and Hazleton). An SMSA may include other cities Of 50,000 or more besides its central
cities.
in 1982 the second edition of the State and Metropolitan Area D ata Book was released. This
publication presents a variety of statistical information for SMSA's and their component counties,
reflecting the 1981 definitions of SMSA’s.
New England SMSA’s and NECMA's. Because SMSA's in New England are defined in terms of
cities and towns, rather than counties, some statistical data that are available only for counties
cannot be compiled for individual New England SMSA’s. Therefore, for New England areas, data
are shown for both New England County Metropolitan Areas (NECMA’s) and SMSA’s wherever
possible. The NECMA’s provide a county version of the New England areas defined following criteria
identical to those used to define SMSA’s In the other States. NECMA’s do not replace New
England SMSA’s as the standard areas.
Standard Consolidated Statistical Areas.— Standard consolidated statistical areas (SCSA’s),
defined under criteria adopted by OMB in August 1975 and revised in January 1980, include two or
more contiguous SMSA’s which meet certain criteria of size, urban character, integration, and contiguity
of urbanized areas.