In Corvallis, Oregon, the state designates certain funding sources to metropolitan statistical areas and any change to the city's status could create a ripple effect, particularly when it comes to transportation funding.
Move over, Muncie: Five Indiana cities could lose status as metro areas
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Move over, Muncie. Take a powder, Terre Haute.
Those Hoosier cities are two of 144 that the federal government is proposing to downgrade from the metropolitan statistical area designation, and it could be more than just a matter of semantics. Officials in some of the affected cities worry that the change could have adverse implications for federal funding and economic development.
Under the new proposal, a metro area would have to have at least 100,000 people in its core city to count as an MSA, double the 50,000-person threshold that has been in place for the past 70 years.
Bye-bye, Bismarck. So long, Sheboygan. Those cities in North Dakota and Wisconsin, respectively, are two of 144 that the federal government is proposing to downgrade from the metropolitan statistical area…
Bye-bye, Bismarck. So long, Sheboygan.
Those cities in North Dakota and Wisconsin, respectively, are two of 144 that the federal government is proposing to downgrade from the metropolitan statistical area designation, and it could be more than just a matter of semantics. Officials in some of the affected cities worry that the change could have adverse implications for federal funding and economic development.
Under the new proposal, a metro area would have to have at least 100,000 people in its core city to count as an MSA, double the 50,000-person threshold that has been in place for the past 70 years. Cities formerly designated as metros with core populations between 50,000 and 100,000 people, like Bismarck and Sheboygan, would be changed to “micropolitan” statistical areas instead.
Two cities in Iowa are concerned that their status as metropolitan areas could soon be downgraded. Those in charge of changing the designation say it is purely for evolving statistical purposes, but leaders in those cities are concerned it could mean much more eventually from a financial perspective.
To currently qualify as a metropolitan area , a city in the United States must have a population of at least 50,000 residents. A proposed change would increase that threshold to 100,000 and affect 144 cities across the country, including Dubuque and Ames, with current populations of 60,438 and 67,818 respectively
The Associated Press says a committee of federal statistical agencies made the recommendations to the Office of Management and Budget. Many of the cities included are concerned that eventually, federal programs may change their thresholds for the distribution of funds to communities.