MSA's That Should Have Larger/Smaller Boundaries Than Census Gives (to live in, cabin)
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The Worcester MSA is also kind of a strange one in that it's Worcester County which includes Leominster/Fitchburg area which is arguably a separate yet smaller region that's also included in Worcester County. Worcester Urbanized Area is just under 500k whereas Worcester County is just over 800k.
I second this. Worcester’s MSA is a bit too big.
Quote:
Originally Posted by As Above So Below...
Thats not how this works.
MSA/CSAs are based off of commute patterns, not what you think looks right.
Well, they’re also based on county definitions, which (for certain parts of the country) are a vestigial and ineffective way of dividing up an area.
Who is this "they" you speak of that apparently dislike CA? Lol.
I highly agree, and I think everyone would agree, that the IE should absolutely just be part of the LA MSA and not a separate MSA.
However, the NYC MSA is strange. It really is not unheard of for people to commute from PA into NYC for work. Some people who don't need to be in the office every day will live in a place like PA for the lower COL, yet there are still charter buses that pick up directly in cities like Allentown and Bethlehem and drop you off right at the PABT in Midtown. Others further up the Hudson Valley and into CT have direct train access on Metro North into GCT for commuting purposes as well.
Also, a lot of people live across the Delaware in Monroe and Pike counties in PA, but work in NJ in Warren, Sussex, and Hunterdon counties.
I will also never understand the obsession with Californians caring about political boundaries and calling them unfair. The East Coast is full of small state boundaries with strange borders and shapes. Political boundaries do not stop people from commuting or socializing or being culturally affiliated with a state across another political boundary. Actually, the political boundaries are probably why you see these MSAs expanding and taking on weird shapes. NJ residents move to PA for lower COL and taxes, yet can still commute to their jobs in NJ. Metro North goes pretty far into the Hudson Valley and CT, so people have just continually moved along those lines to find cheaper housing, yet have a reasonable commute to Manhattan. AFAIK, Southern NH gets a lot of people from MA looking for lower COL and lower taxes, but still a close commute to Boston. People are fleeing South NJ because it's expensive for what you get there, but DE is seeing some good growth because COL is lower, yet commutes to Philly jobs are still totally doable. Even the PA suburbs of Philly are doing much better than South NJ suburbs of Philly because COL and taxes are more reasonable there, with more public transit commutes into Philly via SEPTA. DE also has a SETPA RR Line.
Once the high speed rail between LA and LV opens up, I bet a ton of people will flood into LV to take the train into LA for higher paying jobs, yet have the low COL in LV.
Californians care about political boundaries because they are official and will be remembered in history as official designations with no room for boundary opinions
MSA/CSAs are based off of commute patterns, not what you think looks right.
I'm saying MSAs and MDs because they are often considered to be synonymous with metro area. Some metros are way more cohesive with each other but defined as separate metros and their are ones who are only cohesive because people commute a great distance to work so therefore it's part of the metro when even their own citizens dont identify as one metro
I mean honestly, we have entered into a near lock down as a 6-county region that most locals already consider a single entity. Santa Clara belongs to us and vice versa.
I agree. The Bay area should easily be one metro more so than any other region along with LA, OC and IE. The fact they're divided as metropolitan areas shows a glitch in the census more than anything else. CA cities have large urban foot prints with odd geography and that unfairly divides a metro and give less cohesive metros a since of being larger when they aren't (example: LA should be largest metro and Bay area should be 3rd or 4th largest along side Chicago. CA metros are within same state too
First, the city of Holland is in both Ottawa and Allegan counties. Yet Ottawa county is in the Grand Rapids metro area, while Allegan county is in (get this) the Holland Micropolitan Statistical area - anchored by a city that isn't even completely in its county. That's crazy!
I'm a bit skeptical about Lapeer and St. Clair counties being part of the Detroit metro area. I'm sure that they have enough commuters into Oakland and Macomb counties directly to their south, and that's why. But the northern stretches of those counties are basically the Thumb.
Sacramento. How many people in the California side of Lake Tahoe commute two hours each way to Sacramento? Lake Tahoe is closer to Reno than it is to Tahoe.
The only reason why the California side of Lake Tahoe's included is because Placer and El Dorado Counties stretch all the way from the far outer Sacramento suburbs to South Lake Tahoe. They really gerrymandered the county lines.
I can understand why CA metros are mentioned as much as they are. On top of the mountains and bodies of water within their urban areas that affect the delineation of their MSAs/CSAs, there's also the fact that its counties vary widely in size. It's crazy that counties the size of San Francisco and San Bernardino are in the same state given their huge size differences.
Sacramento. How many people in the California side of Lake Tahoe commute two hours each way to Sacramento? Lake Tahoe is closer to Reno than it is to Tahoe.
The only reason why the California side of Lake Tahoe's included is because Placer and El Dorado Counties stretch all the way from the far outer Sacramento suburbs to South Lake Tahoe. They really gerrymandered the county lines.
No gerrymandering, El Dorado and Placer counties are the same since they were created.
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