Cover Story
The Changing Face of South Georiga
High Profile
Jim Worn - Cracking the corporate shell at South Georgia
Opinion
Georgia's Outgrowing its roots
Making sense of the new census
By Douglas C. Bachtel
The 2000 U.S. Census
data shows Georgia is a unique state for a number of reasons. We are the
largest state east of the Mississippi River in terms of land area and
rank eighth in terms of total population. During the decade of the 1990s,
we were the sixth fastest growing state on a percentage basis, and the
fourth fastest on a numeric basis. Thus, we are a big state geographically
and demographically.
Since Georgia was one of the original 13 colonies, our Census data goes
back to the 1790, the year of the first Census. In 1790, Georgia’s
population was 82,548, and in 2000 it reached 8,186,453.
Speaking of big, Georgia’s rural population (2,319,886) is bigger than the combined population of three states — Wyoming, Vermont, and Alaska. Georgia is no longer a sleepy rural state; however, defining rural has and probably always will be problematical. From a pin-head sociological perspective, rural means relationships and not real estate. It’s where people know each other, and because of the sense of community that primary relationships foster, it’s one of the reasons why crime and vandalism tend to be lower in rural areas than urban ones. If everyone knows your mamma, it’s harder to get away with anything and a whole lot easier to get caught!
A tremendous amount of data comes from the Census Bureau and every 10 years they conduct a Census or a periodic counting of the population. The reason for the Census, which is mandated in the Constitution, is to accurately count the population so we know how many representatives each state has in Congress. Currently, the country has 435 representatives or one representative per 629,727 people. Georgia has 13.
Besides accounting
for congressional representatives, all sorts of different government programs,
policies and procedures flow from the analysis and use of Census data.
One use is the identification of metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas.
The terms metro and non-metro are basically synonymous with rural and
urban — well kinda.
Since its inception in the 1790s, the Census Bureau has been defining
and redefining categories of people, places and living arrangements. The
recent 2000 Census is no exception. The information in the map shows the
distribution of Georgia’s new metropolitan and micropolitan areas.
The micropolitan areas are a brand-new addition to the Census categorization,
and here is where your homework assignment starts. The U.S. Office of
Management and Budget defines metropolitan and micropolitan statistical
areas using Census Bureau data. As they tell it:“The general concept
of a metropolitan or micropolitan statistical area is that of a core area
containing a substantial population nucleus, together with adjacent communities
having a high degree of economic and social integration with that core.”
Basically, the definition identifies cities and includes the suburbs where
many of the people who work in the city have their homes, and if they
have kids it’s where they go to school. Despite the maddening difficulty
and inconvenience surrounding the concise and changing definitions regarding
this concept, it is extremely useful because cities and towns do not stop
at artificial municipal, county and even state boundaries. Like that little
bunny battery commercial, they just keep going and going. This is especially
true in rapidly growing areas where the sprawl often seems to go on forever,
particularly if you’re stuck in traffic.
A wise philosopher
reflecting on large bureaucratic institutions once said there are no great
men or women, only great committees. The Census Bureau is no exception
and as evidence, I provide the following brief discussion of the torturous
history of the definition of a metropolitan area.
Standard definitions of metropolitan areas were first issued in 1949 by
the then Bureau of the Budget (predecessor of OMB), under the designation
“standard metropolitan area” (SMA). The term was changed to
“standard metropolitan statistical area” (SMSA) in 1959, and
to “metropolitan statistical area” (MSA) in 1983. The term
“metropolitan area” (MA) was adopted in 1990 and referred
collectively to metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), consolidated metropolitan
statistical areas (CMSAs), and primary metropolitan statistical areas
(PMSAs). The term “core based statistical area” (CBSA) became
effective in 2000 and refers collectively to metropolitan and micropolitan
statistical areas.
All of this is a
bunch of BULL, but … each CBSA “core based statistical area”
must contain at least one urban area of 10,000 or more population. Each
metropolitan statistical area must have at least one urbanized area of
50,000 or more inhabitants. Each micropolitan statistical area must have
at least one urban cluster of at least 10,000 but less than 50,000 population.
Under the standards, the county (or counties) in which at least 50 percent
of the population resides within urban areas of 10,000 or more population,
or that contain at least 5,000 people residing within a single urban area
of 10,000 or more population, is identified as a “central county”
(counties).
Additional “outlying counties” are included in the CBSA if
they meet specified requirements of commuting to or from the central counties.
Counties or equivalent entities form the geographic “building blocks”
for metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas.
As of June 6, 2000, there are 362 metropolitan statistical areas and 560 micropolitan statistical areas in the United States. In Georgia we have 15 metropolitan areas (70 counties) and 22 micropolitan statistical areas (28 counties). Thus Georgia has 98 metro and micro counties, and 41 non-metro and non-micro counties.
The data shows that Georgia’s growth has been impressive and is reaching into areas of the state that previously experienced limited population growth and even decline. Perhaps one of the most far-reaching aspects of this metropolitan and, oh yes, micropolitan growth, is the loss of prime agricultural land. As the state’s cities and suburbs keep expanding, their growth inevitably encroaches on farm land.
This issue must be addressed and resolved by policymakers in the near future because they are not making anymore of it and we do not tear down convenience stores to plant soybeans.
Douglas C. Bachtel is a professor and demographer at The University of Georgia, College of Family and Consumer Sciences.
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DOUGLAS
BACHTEL |
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