The United states Office of Management and Budget (OMB) defines metropolitan areas according to published standards that are applied to Census Bureau data. The general concept of an metropolitan area is that of a core area containing a large population nucleus, together with adjacent communities having a high degree of economic and social integration with that core.
We use the most current definitions available from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and carry them through the entire time series.
For more information on how metropolitan areas are defined, see http://www.census.gov/population/www/estimates/metroarea.html.
A list of metropolitan areas and component counties is available at: http://www.bea.gov/bea/regional/docs/msalist.cfm.
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