OMB proposes raising the minimum population for metropolitan ares to 100,000

[muon2]

The OMB is proposing raising the threshold for a Metropolitan Statistical Area from 50 K to 100K. 144 cities would be reclassified as Micropolitan Areas if the proposal is adopted.

The Census Bureau is proposing a change to the threshold for an Urban Area from 500 people per sq mi to 385 housing units per sq mi. That is roughly equivalent to 1000 people per sq mi.

https://apnews.com/article/wisconsin-bismarck-census-2020-north-dakota-sheboygan-ad77e15f0f8cd13b8e398d2ca8339ca7

I missed this thread initially, so I merged my thread onto this one. One extra thing in the article is the proposed Census Bureau change. It seems confusing to up the OMB urban area population threshold while changing the urban area definition to housing.

[muon2]

I don't agree with bumping the metropolitan minimum to 100k. 75k would be a reasonable compromise.

Are there particular metros in the 75K - 100K range you think should not be dropped to micropolitan status? Note they will still be MSAs, just in the smaller category.

I see some in the article I wouldn't want to move, but they used 2010 data and many of those on their map have grown this decade. For example they show Twin Falls ID, but on closer inspection it had 99,987 in the urban area and has certainly picked up at least 13 people last decade.