Table C-1 of this appendix lists the States composing the census regions and divisions for which data are published in section I. Table C-2 provides the geographic definitions of the metropolitan areas for which data are published in section III. These data for metropolitan areas reflect the standards and definitions established by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on June 30, 1993. ¹

Effective December 22, 1987, the boundary of the St. Louis metropolitan statistical area was redefined to include the part of Sullivan city in Crawford County, MO. This change is not reflected in the data for the St. Louis area shown in this bulletin, although the addition of entire counties in 1993 is reflected.

The general concept of a metropolitan area (MA) is that of a core area containing a large population nucleus, together with adjacent communities that have a high degree of economic and social integration with that core.

A Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) consists of one or more counties and meets specified size criteria--either it contains a city of at least 50,000 inhabitants, or it contains an urbanized area of at least 50,000 inhabitants, and has a total population of at least 100,000.

A Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area (CMSA) is a metropolitan area that has a population of at least 1 million and has been divided into two or more PMSAs (see below). The CMSA comprises the same geographic area as its constituent PMSAs.

A Primary Metropolitan Statistical Area (PMSA) is a subarea within a CMSA. The designation of these subareas is based on specific criteria, including having a population of at least 100,000 that is at least 60-percent urban, and the support of local opinion. Areas that were designated separate metropolitan areas as of January 1, 1980, and are now part of a larger area, are designated as PMSAs unless local opinion does not support their continued separate designation for statistical purposes.

It is anticipated that Census 2000-based metropolitan area definitions will be used in Geographic Profile of Employment and Unemployment, 2005.

1 The standards were published in the Federal Register on March 30, 1990; the definitions and a complete listing of the areas were published on June 30, 1993, in OMB Bulletin No. 93-17.

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