Lima metropolitan area, Ohio
metropolitan area in Ohio, United States

The Lima metropolitan statistical area, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, is an area consisting of one county – Allen – in Northwest Ohio, anchored by the city of Lima. As of the 2000 census, the MSA had a population of 108,473 (though a July 1, 2009 estimate placed the population at 104,357).
History
The Lima metropolitan area was first defined in 1950. Then known as the Lima standard metropolitan area (Lima SMA), it consisted of a single county – Allen – and had a population of 88,183. Following a term change by the Bureau of the Budget (present-day Office of Management and Budget) in 1959, the Lima SMA became the Lima standard metropolitan statistical area (Lima SMSA). By the census of 1960, the population had grown to 103,691, an 18 percent increase over the previous census.
Two additional counties were added to the Lima SMSA in 1971 – Putnam and Van Wert. Auglaize County became a part of the SMSA in 1973. With that addition, there were a total of 218,244 residents living in the metropolitan area at the 1980 census.
In 1983, the official designation was shortened to the Lima metropolitan statistical area (Lima MSA), which is still in use to date.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Lima metropolitan area, Ohio” as metropolitan area in Ohio, United States. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as metropolitan area in Ohio, United States. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 24, 2024. The linked authority identifier is Q14716609. The first chronological checks are 2000, 2009, 1950 and 1959.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Lima metropolitan area, Ohio” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.