Manhattan Area Chamber of Commerce officials are breathing a sigh of relief after the federal government recently announced it won’t redefine what constitutes a “metropolitan statistical area.”
Chamber president and CEO Jason Smith:
According to the Office of Management and Budget, an area is considered an MSA if it has a population of at least 50,000 people.
The federal government had previously been considering changing the population threshold to 100,000.
This would have caused Manhattan, which has a population of about 55,000, to become a micropolitan statistical area.
Since certain government funding only goes to metropolitan statistical areas, such a change would have impacted Manhattan’s access to various revenue sources.
The change was originally proposed by officials who noted that the United States’ population has greatly increased since the 50,000 population threshold was established.
