Which Census metro regions boundaries are the most overextended?
When we talk about “metro area” populations in the US, the numbers often come from the US Census, which compiles something called “primary census statistical areas” – some of these are combined statistical areas (CSAs) while some are metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs). There are also micropolitan areas. CSAs are agglomerations of MSAs. However, these numbers are not based on continuous urbanization – they are based mostly on commuting and transit patterns. And they are based on county lines. Sometimes the model maps fairly closely to what we’d consider a metro area’s “real” boundaries – but sometimes, they don’t. Here is a list of all 719 Census primary statistical areas – from the ‘New York-Newark-Bridgeport, NY-NJ-CT-PA CSA’ (estimated 2007 population: 21,961,994) to the ‘Pecos, TX μSA’ (11,183): Table of United States primary census statistical areas Which areas are most overblown, and which seem most accurate? For example, the Little Rock CSA includes Pine Bluff, which is about
