Geography The times, they are a changin’

Today’s Geography Lesson What we’ll cover –The answers to the question everyone is asking – how do these geography tables work? –New areas and area types –What happens to time series? –WILD CARD #1 – Census EEO geography –WILD CARD #2 – New England geography

GEOG and SUBGEOG Why are these table SO important? What data are in the tables? How they should be populated.

Next, a trip back through time The year is 1949: –Bruce Springsteen, John Belushi, Aiswarya (Queen of Nepal) and Linda Tripp were born –Richard Strauss and Leadbelly passed away –Rasputin had been dead for 33 years –EDSAC, first stored-program computer runs at Cambridge –Boxer Joe Louis retired –Standard Metropolitan Areas (SMA) were first defined

Next, a trip back through time The year is 1949: –Bruce Springsteen, John Belushi, Aiswarya (Queen of Nepal) and Linda Tripp were born –Richard Strauss and Leadbelly passed away –EDSAC, first stored-program computer runs at Cambridge –Boxer Joe Louis retired –Standard Metropolitan Areas (SMA) were first defined

Something Old, Something New Modern History –Standard Metropolitan Area (SMA, 1949) –Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area (SMSA, 1959) –Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA, 1983) –Metropolitan Area (MA: MSA, CMSA, PMSA, 1990) –Core Based Statistical Area (CBSA: Metropolitan, Micropolitan, 2000)

Recent Update OMB Bulletin #03-04, June 6, 2003 (see –Revised Metropolitan area definitions –49 new Metropolitan Statistical Areas –Created Micropolitan Statistical Areas; Combined Statistical Areas; New England City and Town Areas

ALMIS Database Changes New AREATYPE values –21: Metropolitan Statistical Area (2003 revision) –22: Micropolitan Statistical Area (2003 revision) –23: Metropolitan Divisions (2003 revision) –24: Combined Statistical Areas New prototype content –ftp://ftp.xwalkcenter.org/almis/ver23 contain GEOG and SUBGEOG files in the lookup directories for FOX26 and TXT versions

More Recent Update OMB Bulletin #04-03, February 18, 2004 (see –13 new Micropolitan Statistical Areas –1 deleted Metropolitan Statistical Area –9 new Combined Statistical Areas –3 new components to existing Combined Statistical Areas –1 deleted component from existing Combined Statistical Area –2 deleted Combined Statistical Areas –1 new New England City and Town Area –One new Combined New England City and Town Area –1 change to principal city and title of Metropolitan New England City and Town Area –8 new principal cities for Metropolitan or Micropolitan Statistical Areas –6 deleted principal cities for Metropolitan or Micropolitan Statistical Areas –2 changes in the order of principal cities –5 other title changes

Most Recent Update OMB Bulletin #05-02, February 22, 2005 (see –2 new Micropolitan Statistical Areas –2 new components to existing Combined Statistical Areas –3 new principal cities in Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas and Metropolitan Divisions –1 deleted principal city for a Metropolitan Statistical Area –4 changes in the order of principal cities

What the…? Geographic definitions have become more fluid OMB: Definitions “take effect immediately.” Check for OMB updates at: Subscribe to the NCSC RSS feed (see

Why worry? Questions raised by OMB Bulletin –What happened to the Bristol VA Metropolitan Statistical Area? –Where did the Greenville-Spartanburg- Anderson, SC Combined Statistical area come from?

Prior MSA Revisions June 1999 June 1993 June 1990 June 1983 June 1981 April 1973 February 1971 October 1963 November 1960 October 1950

How about data? BLS series –LAUS: 2000 definitions with January 2005 –CES: 2000 definitions with January 2005 –OES: Tentative Spring 2006 Other selected series –BEA: Back to 1969 on 2004 definitions ( on 2005 definitions) –Census: 2000 Census data – 1999 definitions

Wild Card #1 Census EEO Geography Different than any other geography No areas with less than 50,000 population Counties of 50,000 or more might not be presented separately – if they are combined with one or more smaller counties Individual state EEO geography files can be found in CENLAB00.ZIP file found in state directories at: ftp://ftp.xwalkcenter.org/almis/states

Wild Card #2 New England Geography New England is: all states north and east of New York Counties are defined, but generally not used Individual states may have developed their own systems – may be best source NCSC prototype New England Geography: –Based on content taken from –Used AREATYPE 05 – Minor Civil Division –Files available on NCSC FTP server. See ftp://ftp.xwalkcenter.org/almis/nonstd/readme.txt

What’s next Still planning Tentative resource list –GEOG and SUBGEOG sets for each OMB Bulletin –Archive of OMB change documents –RSS and notification of changes