INTRODUCTION

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) defines metropolitan areas (MAs) following the official standards published in the Federal Register (55 FR 12154-12160) on March 30, 1990. MAs comprise metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), consolidated metropolitan statistical areas (CMSAs), and primary metropolitan statistical areas (PMSAs). These areas are defined in terms of entire counties, except in the six New England States where they are defined in terms of cities and towns. New England county metropolitan areas (NECMAs) are an alternative set of county-based areas defined for New England states.

Effective June 30, 1995, there are 256 MSAs, 19 CMSAs, and 76 PMSAs, including 3 MSAs, 1 CMSA, and 3 PMSAs in Puerto Rico. Attached are four lists containing the definitions of these areas based on the MA standards published in the Federal Register on March 30, 1990, the 1990 Decennial Census data, and 1992 and 1994 Census Bureau population estimates. List I is a comprehensive alphabetical listing of all MSAs, CMSAs, and PMSAs. It presents the definition and central cities for each MSA, and identifies each CMSA and PMSA by title only (referring the user to List II for their definitions). List II provides definitions of each CMSA and its component PMSAs. Both List I and List II present central cities in the order in which they appear in the area title and then in descending order of their 1990 populations. List III identifies the MSAs, CMSAs, and PMSAs by State, with cross references to the list on which to find each area's definition and central cities. Parentheses around MA titles in List III indicate that an area recently has become part of another or has a new title. List IV specifies the definitions of 12 NECMAs.

The first column of each list contains Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) codes issued by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in the Department of Commerce to standardize the coding of electronic data processing information. NIST has assigned a unique four digit code for each MSA, PMSA, and NECMA and a unique two digit code for each CMSA.

List I - Metropolitan Areas
List II - Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Areas & Primary Metropolitan Statistical Areas
List III - Metropolitan Areas Arranged by State
List IV - Definitions of New England County Metropolitan Areas