A total of 144 metropolitan statistical areas might lose their federal designation if a proposal under discussion at the Office of Management and Budget is approved.
Mike Schneider, writing for the Associated Press, reveals the details of a plan under consideration at the federal Office of Management and Budget that would remove metropolitan statistical area (MSA) designations for 144 locations in the United States. The change would mean 144 MSAs with populations between 50,000 and 100,000 would be designated as micropolitan statistical areas instead. The 144 MSAs targeted for the change in designation represent a full third of the nation's total MSAs.
Officials in some of the cities included in the list of 144 are expressing concern that the change would affect federal funding for programs tied to MSA designation, like housing, transportation, and Medicare reimbursement programs, and create more competition for funding devoted to rural locations.
While Schneider's article focuses on some of the Midwestern locations likely to be impacted by the proposed change, the news also spread to the South, particularly in Alabama, where Lawrence Specker reports in a separate article that seven cities in that state are likely to be changed under the proposal, along with MSAs in the surrounding states of Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Georgia, and South Carolina.
As noted by Specker, the proposal has been under consideration for a few years, back to August 2019. The proposal is intended to update the definition of MSAs for the first time since the 1950s. The nation's population has doubled in that time, and percentage of Americans living in MSAs has increased from about half to 86 percent.
FULL STORY: Bye, Bismarck: 144 cities could lose status as metro areas
The Mall Is Dead — Long Live the Mall
The American shopping mall may be closer to its original vision than ever.
The Paradox of American Housing
How the tension between housing as an asset and as an essential good keeps the supply inadequate and costs high.
Report: Las Vegas, Houston Top List of Least Affordable Cities
The report assesses the availability of affordable rental units for low-income households.
Anchorage Leaders Debate Zoning Reform Plan
Last year, the city produced the fewest new housing units in a decade.
How to Protect Pedestrians With Disabilities
Public agencies don’t track traffic deaths and injuries involving disabled people, leaving a gap in data to guide safety interventions.
Colorado Town Fills Workforce Housing Need With ‘Dorm-Style’ Housing
Median rent in Steamboat Springs is $4,000 per month.
City of Yakima
City of Auburn
Baylands Development Inc.
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
City of Birmingham, Alabama
City of Laramie, Wyoming
Town of Zionsville
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.