Federal Statistical Area Designations Based on Census 2000

On June 6, 2003, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) announced through Bulletin No. 03-04 an initial update to federal statistical area definitions based on new standards and the results of Census 2000. This was superseded by seven annual updates, plus two sets of corrections, through OMB Bulletin No. 10-02, dated December 1, 2009. OMB anticipates that there will be no further updates to the Census 2000-based federal statistical area definitions. Rather, areas will be redefined based on the application of revised standards to data from Census 2010 and other sources.

The updates set forth in OMB Bulletin No. 10-02 were implemented into the Local Area Unemployment Statistics program on March 19, 2010. Other Bureau of Labor Statistics programs implement revisions to statistical area definitions on a program-by-program basis.

Relative to the 1990s, the lists of OMB Bulletin No. 03-04 included 49 new Metropolitan Statistical Areas, along with revised definitions of existing Metropolitan Statistical Areas, and also newly identified Micropolitan Statistical Areas. Additionally, OMB designated and defined two new sets of statistical areas—Combined Statistical Areas and Metropolitan Divisions in the most populous Metropolitan Statistical Areas. New England City and Town Areas (NECTAs) also were defined as an alternative to the county-based metropolitan and micropolitan areas in the 6 New England states.

The Office of Management and Budget is responsible for maintaining and updating statistical area classifications, a task it has done every decade since the 1950 Census. OMB establishes and maintains the definitions of these areas solely for statistical purposes. The classification is intended to provide nationally consistent definitions for collecting, tabulating, and publishing federal statistics for a set of geographic areas.

New definitions:

• OMB Bulletin No. 03-04
• OMB Bulletin No. 04-03
• OMB Bulletin No. 05-02
• OMB Bulletin No. 06-01 (as corrected May 26, 2006) (PDF)
• Correction to OMB Bulletin No. 06-01, Update of Statistical Area Definitions and Guidance on Their Uses (April 25, 2006) (PDF)
• Correction to OMB Bulletin No. 06-01, Update of Statistical Area Definitions and Guidance on Their Uses (May 26, 2006) (PDF)
• OMB Bulletin No. 07-01 (PDF)
• OMB Bulletin No. 08-01 (PDF)
• OMB Bulletin No. 09-01 (PDF)
• OMB Bulletin No. 10-02 (PDF)

Comparison of Geographic Coverage Between the 2000 and 1990 Definitions:

• United States:  Maps of 2000 Metropolitan and Micropolitan Areas vs. 1990 Metropolitan Areas (HTML) (PDF)
• New England:  Maps of 2000 Metropolitan and Micropolitan NECTAs vs. 1990 Metropolitan Areas (HTML) (PDF)
• States:  Maps of 1990 Metropolitan Areas (PDF 2.4MB)
• States:  Maps of 2000 Metropolitan and Micropolitan Areas (PDF 2.6MB)

Census Bureau Links to Information About Metropolitan Areas:

• Background 
• Current Definitions and Codes
• Historical Metropolitan Area Definitions
• Federal Register Notice—Final Standards (PDF)
• Census 2000 Urban and Rural Classification

BLS Links to Data on Metropolitan Areas:

• Changes to State and Local Area Labor Force Estimates in 2005
• BLS Programs by Geography
• BLS Publications of Metropolitan Area Data
  • Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment
  • Metropolitan Area Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates
  • Geographic Profile of Employment and Unemployment
  • Wages from the National Compensation Survey:  Published Areas
  • Labor Market Areas, 2011 (PDF)

 

Last Modified Date: March 18, 2011