March 3, 201015 yr Well, the Census Bureau wholly revamped the way it determines metro areas for the 2000 census (per the document coldayman posted.) Looking at the data from the link I posted above, a bit over 21% of Ashtabula Co. commuters work in Cuyahoga Co., which is just shy of the 25% needed for inclusion in the MSA. If just under 500 more people commuted from Ashtabula to Cuyahoga Co. in 2000, it would have been included. The largest number of commuters (45%) work in Lake Co., and 18% work in Geauga Co. Less than 5% work anywhere in the state of PA, with most in Erie Co. So I guess they used to fit whatever the old criteria were for inclusion in the PMSA, but when the Census Bureau changed over to the new definitions, Ashtabula Co. just barely didn't make the cut. The requirement to be part of the MSA is based on what percentage people commute to the central county out of the total, not what percentage of people commute to the center county out of the total number of people who commute outside of the county. For instance, for Geauga County, nearly 50% of the workforce works in Cuyahoga County. Ashtabula County is not even close to being included in the Cleveland MSA. It actually is closer (but still not very close) to being a part of the Mentor (Lake County) MSA, which would mean then Mentor would be its own MSA, like Akron. However, this is also unlikely, as ~10% of workers from Ahstabula County work in Lake County, and ~5% work in Cuyahoga County.
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