The characterization which we (muon2 and myself) have used is based on the population within the urbanized areas within the county. In the case of Lancaster County, this includes 397K in the Lancaster Urbanized Area, and 5K in the Philadelphia Urbanized Area, for a total of 402K in urbanized areas (the total and percentages were based on actual values, then rounded).
makes sense. Thank you.
I don't know whether you have been following the redistricting discussion mostly between Muon2, Torie, and myself, but a goal is to have congressional districts constructed primarily from counties, and to have objective criteria for comparing different plans.
also makes sense, but good luck getting that through the PA legislature. Here's a map for a typical congressional district:
pretty creative, don't you think? (The area labeled Salisbury Heights is probably where the 5000 people live who are not in the Lancaster MSA but in the Philadelphia MSA.)