[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 11 (Tuesday, January 19, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5263-5266]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-00988]


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OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET


Recommendations From the Metropolitan and Micropolitan 
Statistical Area Standards Review Committee to the Office of Management 
and Budget Concerning Changes to the 2010 Standards for Delineating 
Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas

AGENCY:  Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and 
Budget.

ACTION:  Notice and request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) requests public 
comment on the recommendations it has received from the Metropolitan 
and Micropolitan Statistical Area Standards Review Committee for 
changes to OMB's metropolitan and micropolitan statistical area 
standards. These standards determine the procedures for delineating and 
updating the statistical areas as new data become available, and 
responses to this request will be

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carefully considered by OMB in establishing revised standards.

DATES: Comments must be submitted in writing. To ensure consideration 
of comments, they must be received no later than 60 days from the 
publication of this notice. Because of delays in the receipt of regular 
mail related to security screening, respondents are encouraged to send 
comments electronically (see ADDRESSES, below).

ADDRESSES: Comments may be sent electronically via 
www.regulations.gov--a Federal E-Government website that allows the 
public to find, review, and submit comments on documents that agencies 
have published in the Federal Register and that are open for comment. 
Simply type ``OMB-2021-0001'' (including quotation marks) in the 
Comment or Submission search box, click ``Go,'' and follow the 
instructions for submitting comments. Comments received by the date 
specified above will be included as part of the official record.
    Comments submitted in response to this notice may be made available 
to the public. For this reason, please do not include in your comments 
information of a confidential nature, such as sensitive personal or 
proprietary information. If you send an email comment, your email 
address will be automatically captured and included as part of the 
comment that is placed in the public docket. Please note that responses 
to this public comment request containing any routine notice about the 
confidentiality of the communication will be treated as public comments 
that may be made available to the public notwithstanding the inclusion 
of the routine notice.
    Electronic Availability: This notice is available on the internet 
on the OMB website at https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/. Federal Register 
notices are also available electronically at https://www.federalregister.gov/.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: James D. Fitzsimmons, Chair, 
Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Area Standards Review 
Committee, telephone (301) 763-1465; or Email 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Outline of Notice

1. Background
2. Review Process
3. Overview of Recommendations From the Metropolitan and Micropolitan 
Statistical Area Standards Review Committee
4. Issues for Comment

1. Background

    The metropolitan area program has provided standard statistical 
area delineations for approximately 70 years. In the 1940s, it became 
clear that the value of statistics produced by Federal agencies would 
be greatly enhanced if agencies used a single set of geographic 
delineations for the Nation's largest centers of population and 
activity. OMB's predecessor, the Bureau of the Budget, led the effort 
to develop what were then called ``standard metropolitan areas'' in 
time for their use in 1950 census publications. Since then, comparable 
data products for metropolitan areas have been available.
    The general concept of a metropolitan statistical area is that of 
an area containing a large population nucleus and adjacent communities 
that have a high degree of integration with that nucleus. The concept 
of a micropolitan statistical area closely parallels that of the 
metropolitan statistical area, but a micropolitan statistical area 
features a smaller nucleus.
    As currently operationalized, a metropolitan statistical area must 
contain a Census Bureau-delineated urban area with a population of 
50,000 or more, while a micropolitan statistical area must contain a 
Census Bureau-delineated urban area with a population of 10,000 to 
49,999. (Areas delineated in annual updates based on Census Bureau 
place population estimates are excepted from this requirement until the 
following decade.)
    Both metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas are composed 
of entire counties (Figure 1). ``Central counties'' are those that have 
substantial population residing in the largest urban area of the 
metropolitan or micropolitan statistical area. ``Outlying counties'' 
qualify based on having sufficient commuting with the central county or 
counties of the area. Counties that do not fall within metropolitan or 
micropolitan statistical areas are termed ``outside core based 
statistical area.''

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[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TN19JA21.025

    The purpose of these statistical areas is unchanged from when 
standard metropolitan areas were first delineated: The classification 
provides a nationally consistent set of delineations for collecting, 
tabulating, and publishing Federal statistics for geographic areas.
    OMB establishes and maintains these areas solely for statistical 
purposes. In reviewing and revising these areas, OMB does not take into 
account or attempt to anticipate any public or private sector 
nonstatistical uses that may be made of the delineations. These areas 
are not designed to serve as a general-purpose geographic framework 
applicable for nonstatistical activities or for use in program funding 
formulas.

2. Review Process

    Periodic review of the standards is necessary to ensure their 
continued usefulness and relevance. OMB reviews the statistical area 
standards and, if warranted, revises them prior to their application to 
new decennial census data. The current review of the metropolitan and 
micropolitan statistical area standards is the seventh such review. In 
2018, OMB charged the Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Area 
Standards Review Committee with examining the 2010 metropolitan and 
micropolitan statistical area standards and providing recommendations 
on the standards scheduled to be issued no later than December 2020. 
Agencies represented on the review committee include the U.S. Census 
Bureau (Chair), Bureau of Economic Analysis, Bureau of Justice 
Statistics, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bureau of Transportation 
Statistics, Economic Research Service, National Center for Health 
Statistics, Statistics of Income, and ex officio, OMB. The Census 
Bureau provided research support to the committee.
    This notice is the first of two anticipated notices related to the 
review of the 2010 standards. After OMB considers the recommendations 
of the review committee and the comments received through this notice, 
any revisions to the standards will be announced in a final notice.

3. Overview of Recommendations From the Metropolitan and Micropolitan 
Statistical Area Standards Review Committee

    The committee noted that the 2010 standards have served the Federal 
statistical community well over the past decade. There are aspects of 
the standards, however, that require evaluation in light of experiences 
from the implementation of the 2010 standards and continuing change in 
U.S. population and activity patterns.
    The committee made the following recommendations in their report to 
OMB, available as a supplemental document to this Notice at 
www.regulations.gov:
    (1) The minimum urban area population to qualify a metropolitan 
statistical area should be increased from 50,000 to 100,000 (see 
Appendix, Part A: Table 1 for a list of current metropolitan 
statistical areas likely to be among those that would be affected by 
this recommendation).
    (2) The delineation of New England city and town areas (NECTAs), 
NECTA

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divisions, and combined NECTAs should be discontinued.
    (3) Research should be undertaken on an additional, territorially 
exhaustive classification that covers all of the United States and 
Puerto Rico.
    (4) The first annual delineation update of the coming decade should 
be combined with the decennial-based delineations.
    (5) OMB should make publicly available a schedule for updates to 
the core based statistical areas (see proposed update schedule below).
    (6) OMB should continue use of American Community Survey commuting 
data in measurement of intercounty connectivity, though changing 
societal and economic trends may warrant considering changes in the 
2030 standards.
    Under the recommendations of the committee, OMB would release three 
different types of updates, subject to the proposed standards.
    (1) Annual Updates--These updates would address qualification of 
new metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas and typically would 
affect a small number of counties. (In some years, there may be no 
updates warranted by the data.)
    (2) Five-Year (``mid-decade'') Update--This broader update would 
include: Qualification of metropolitan and micropolitan statistical 
areas, qualification of outlying counties, merging of adjacent 
metropolitan or micropolitan statistical areas, qualification of 
principal cities, categorization of metropolitan and micropolitan 
statistical areas, qualification of metropolitan divisions, 
qualification of combined statistical areas, and titling of 
metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas, metropolitan 
divisions, and combined statistical areas.
    (3) Decennial Delineation--The initial re-delineation following 
adoption of revised standards would include all of the changes listed 
for the five-year update, plus the qualification of central counties.
    The schedule for these updates as described in the attached 
proposed standards is as follows:

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              Update type                          Release date
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Decennial Delineation..................  June 2023.
Annual Update..........................  December 2024.
Annual Update..........................  December 2025.
Annual Update..........................  December 2026.
Annual Update..........................  December 2027.
Five-Year Update.......................  December 2028.
Annual Update..........................  December 2029.
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4. Issues for Comment

    OMB is seeking comments on the specific recommendations of the 
committee for revising the 2010 standards and their potential effects 
on the statistical area delineations (see Section 3 above). Comments 
are also sought on any other aspect of the current 2010 Standards that 
are of interest to reviewers, including topics such as commuting 
thresholds, alternative sources of data, stakeholder engagement, and 
procedures for OMB dissemination of updates to the delineations, as 
well as editorial suggestions to help improve the clarity of the 
standards.

Dominic J. Mancini,
Deputy Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2021-00988 Filed 1-15-21; 8:45 am]
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