Should the MSA's of San Francisco and San Jose be merged?

[kgbnsf]

Of course they should be merged. It's the 'Bay Area' that we refer to for our region. Sure, you can get specific with city names but for a 'metro' area, it's the Bay Area. Besides, the majority of us traverse both metros (todays definition) on a regular basis. Work or live in one, entertain/shop in another or any combination thereof. As much as I am not a fan of traffic, I'm always crossing the imaginary/absurd boundary. We share the same news, TV, radio, print media, sports, transportation and other regional government entities. And yes, I get that these entities exist in one or the other metro but their draw is the entire Bay Area.

A real metro separation is the Bay Area and Sacramento. A few dozen miles truly separates these areas as you drive through the farmlands and its noticeable that they're truly independent. Contrast that to SF & SJ.

[EdJS]

Originally Posted by DynamoLA

It's similar to the LA/Inland Empire issue. Both areas (SoCal and Bay Area) seem like single "metro areas" to me, but going by the pure definition created by the Census Bureau, they are separate.

I think the bigger question is should the Census Bureau revise their definitions of an "MSA" to include categories such as transit links, TV markets, and other potential criteria that really unite Metro areas.

But the Census Bureau already has a term for a group of multiple MSAs that have close ties to each other. It's called a Combined Statistical Area (CSA). In particular, there is already a San Jose - San Francisco - Oakland Combined Statistical Area defined by the Census Bureau. That should work fine for whatever statistical purpose you want, if you are interested in merged statistics.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by bigdumbgod

The South Bay is its own animal. We would have to call the whole Bay area one gigantic Metro if we want to include everything that is linked, which is silly.

I agree. The South Bay is different enough in character that it should remain its own metro area.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by EdJS

But the Census Bureau already has a term for a group of multiple MSAs that have close ties to each other. It's called a Combined Statistical Area (CSA). In particular, there is already a San Jose - San Francisco - Oakland Combined Statistical Area defined by the Census Bureau. That should work fine for whatever statistical purpose you want, if you are interested in merged statistics.

Exactly.

[MarketSleuth]

Originally Posted by kgbnsf

We share the same news, TV, radio, print media, sports, transportation and other regional government entities. And yes, I get that these entities exist in one or the other metro but their draw is the entire Bay Area.

A real metro separation is the Bay Area and Sacramento. A few dozen miles truly separates these areas as you drive through the farmlands and its noticeable that they're truly independent. Contrast that to SF & SJ.

Allow me to agree almost completely, but toss out one thought.
Even if there were no longer any farmlands, and it may have become semi-suburban (is that a word?), Sacramento and the Bay Area would remain distinct.
Because MSAs always consist of entire counties, Solano County is completely within the SF MSA, while for the Nielsen TV Designated Market Areas (DMA), Solano is split between the SF DMA and the Sacramento DMA.
It may not be completely definitive exactly where the boundary is, but for the reasons which you have cited (Media, Sports Teams, Regional Transportation, etc) there is no question that these are 2 separate markets, whether measured by TV, Radio, MSA, CSA, or whatever.