Metropolitan statistical area
type of geographical region in the United States, utilized for statistical purposes
In the United States, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) is a geographical region based on a county or a group of counties with at least one urbanized area with a population of at least 50,000 and adjacent counties with economic ties to the central area. Such regions are not legally incorporated as a city or town would be and are not legal administrative divisions like counties or separate entities such as states. As a result, sometimes the precise definition of a given metropolitan area will vary between sources. The statistical criteria for a standard metropolitan area were defined in 1949 and later redefined as those for a metropolitan statistical area in 1983.
Due to suburbanization, the typical metropolitan area is polycentric rather than being centered around a large historic core city such as New York City or Chicago. Some metropolitan areas include more than one large historic core city; examples include the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, Virginia Beach–Norfolk–Newport News (Hampton Roads), Riverside–San Bernardino (Inland Empire), and Minneapolis–St. Paul (Twin Cities).
MSAs are defined by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which is part of the Executive Office of the President, and are used by the U.S. Census Bureau and other U.S. federal government agencies for statistical purposes.
Definitions
The U.S. Office of Management and Budget defines a set of core-based statistical areas (CBSAs) throughout the country, which are composed of counties and county equivalents.
CBSAs are delineated on the basis of a central contiguous area of relatively high population density, known as an urban area.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Metropolitan statistical area” as type of geographical region in the United States, utilized for statistical purposes. 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 type of geographical region in the United States, utilized for statistical purposes. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1768043. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1949 and 1983.
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This entry incorporates text from “Metropolitan statistical area” 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.