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Growing
ST. LOUIS
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By Bryan Bezold
RCGA Director of Research and Chief Economist
The definition of the St. Louis metropolitan area changed this past
June. The Federal Government’s Office of Manage-ment and Budget
defines the geographic scope of metropolitan areas, and based on
the results of the 2000 Census, four new counties are now a part
of the St. Louis Metropolitan Statistical Area, or MSA.
At this point you might be wondering what an MSA is, and how the
federal government defines one. A metropolitan statistical area
is the technical definition of non-rural area in the US—typically
large cities and their suburbs. Although there are many economically
vibrant municipalities within greater St. Louis, like Clayton, Belleville
or St. Peters, those communities would not be as vibrant if they
weren’t within an area anchored by the City of St. Louis. So we
define an area that is anchored by a central city as a metropolitan
area, and its boundaries are defined by commuting patterns. Prior
to the 2000 Census, the St. Louis MSA was composed of St. Louis
City and Monroe, St. Clair, Clinton, Madison, and Jersey Counties
in Illinois plus St. Louis, St. Charles, Jefferson, Franklin, Warren,
and Lincoln Counties in Missouri.
If you filled out a census long form, then you might remember being
asked about your commute to work. This information is used to define
the boundaries of the MSA. Specifically, if more than 25 percent
of the people who live in a given county and commute to work commute
to a workplace that is outside their county and within the boundaries
of an existing MSA, then that county is added to the MSA. Keep in
mind that this doesn’t mean that the commuters are traveling to
the MSA central city, but any place already in the MSA. So, for
example, a person who lives in Macoupin County, Ill. and commutes
to a workplace in Madison County, Ill. would count towards the 25
percent threshold for Macoupin County to be added to the St. Louis
MSA.
Based on the results of the 2000 Census, enough people from Macoupin
do in fact commute into greater St. Louis for it to become part
of the region. The same is also true of Bond and Calhoun Counties
in Illinois, and Washington County in Missouri. Right now, the four
new counties are less dense than the rest of the MSA. In fact, the
combined population of the four new counties is roughly 95,000.
Macoupin County, the largest of the four, has a population of about
48,900. So its entire population could fit in the Edward Jones Dome.
The other three counties, with a combined population of approximately
46,000, could fit in Busch Stadium. So although the number of counties
in the MSA is increasing by 25 percent, and we’re adding 2,258 square
miles, the region’s population is only growing by about four percent.
The region’s total employment increases by about 1.5 percent when
the four new counties are added.
Adding the four new counties doesn’t change the MSA very much, but
it does tell us a few things about our region. Since the four counties
have small populations relative to the rest of the region, their
addition doesn’t significantly change the demographic or economic
composition of the St. Louis MSA. But a couple of points are worth
noting. First of all, the region’s economic pull is attracting people
from further and further away to jobs in greater St. Louis. Second,
the addition of these counties is illustrative of growth patterns
in our region. Although these four new counties are small relative
to the rest of St. Louis, they are growing at a much faster rate.
In Washington County, Mo., for example employment grew by 66.7 percent
between 1990 and 1999. So while these counties are small now, they
may not be in a few years.
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ST.
LOUIS METROPOLITAN STATISTICAL AREA (MSA)
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