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was superseded by seven annual updates, plus two sets of corrections, through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 areasCombined 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:
BLS Links to Data on Metropolitan Areas:
Last Modified Date: March 18, 2011