Quote:
Originally Posted by jmanhsv
^There can be more than one "central county." For example, in the Birmingham MSA, both Jefferson and Shelby are defined as central counties. I'm sure if Huntsville and Decatur's MSAs do merge, then Morgan will be considered "significant enough" to be a central county, which would bring Lawrence into the merged MSA as well.
It should also be noted that local opinion is also taken into consideration when merging two metro areas.
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Lawrence is in the MSA for statistical purposes, but few people around here would consider it part of the "metro area." Lawrence County is there because of geographical reasons: the city of Decatur is practically across the county line.
Madison, Limestone, and Morgan are the three counties that will remain the core of the area, and I don't see that changing for the foreseeable future. You can see this by just observing license plates on cars that drive on arterial roads in the area. It's much more common to see 52's and 44's in Madison County than to see even other neighboring counties such as 39 and 50. It's also very common to see 44's and 47's in Decatur. 42's not so much outside of commuting hours.
The same paradigm can be applied to Birmingham. Only Jefferson, Shelby, and St Clair counties are true parts of the urban area. The rest are added on because of commuting percentages.