Author: Nicole Kennedy
The revised designations for North Carolina’s Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas will take effect with the release of January 2015 employment figures in March. These figures include unemployment rate, job numbers, wages and other data from Bureau of Labor Statistics programs.
A Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) — also known as a Metro — is defined as having at least one urbanized area with a population of 50,000 or more, plus adjacent territory that has a high degree of social and economic integration with the core as measured by commuting patterns.
A Micropolitan Statistical Area (Micro) has at least one urban cluster of at least 10,000 but less than 50,000 in population, plus adjacent territory that has a high degree of social and economic integration with the core as measured by commuting patterns.
The U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) identifies MSAs and Micros using a set of criteria based largely on population density and commuting patterns. The latest revisions were announced in 2013. The OMB evaluates the most recent decennial Census data (2010 for this revision) to define these areas, and then issues new designations. These area designations are used by both state and federal government in legislative planning and fund distribution.
In this latest revision, North Carolina gained one new MSA, bringing the total to 15, while the number of Micros declined by two, bringing the total to 24. Consequently, this brings the number of counties with no designation as an MSA or Micro to 26.
The newest MSA in North Carolina is New Bern. Located in the eastern part of the state, this MSA is comprised of Craven, Jones, and Pamlico counties.
Other changes seen in the revision include counties shifting into or out of an area, as well as a few name changes. For instance, Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord, NC-SC is now the Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC. Anson County was removed from this MSA, while Rowan, Iredell, and Lincoln counties were added. The Raleigh-Cary MSA is now simply the Raleigh MSA, but no counties are affected.
There were three North Carolina MSAs that had a change in county composition. The Greenville MSA lost Greene County, the Wilmington MSA lost Brunswick County to the Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, SC-NC MSA, and the Winston-Salem MSA added Davidson County.
North Carolina’s new designations include two MSAs where the core resides in another state. Those two areas are Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, SC-NC, which includes Brunswick County, NC, and Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC, which includes Gates and Currituck counties. Since the North Carolina portions of these MSAs are not the core of the MSA, the North Carolina counties are excluded in data reporting.
The maps below reflect the changes in the county composition of the MSAs. The first map indicates the current MSA designations, while the second map shows the new designations to take effect with the release of the January 2015 data.
The map below shows the 26 counties that will not be included in either an MSA or a Micro under the new designations.
