TEXARKANA, Ark. (AP) - Hot Springs, Jonesboro, Pine Bluff and Texarkana are among 144 cities 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 affected cities elsewhere in the country said they 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 âmicropolitanâ statistical areas instead.
Wheeling’s status as a metropolitan statistical area could be in jeopardy. So could the MSA in Weirton-Steubenville, Morgantown and Parkersburg. The West Vi
144 cities, including Sheboygan, could lose status as metro areas
By Mike Schneider
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.
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