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There are 144 cities in the United States that the federal government is proposing to downgrade from the metropolitan statistical area designation, and it could be more than just a matter of semantics. In a separate proposal, the U.S. Census Bureau is considering a change to the definition of an urban area. Some demographers aren’t sold on the idea of changing the definition of a metro area. “It seems like everything is ad hoc, rather than having been determined by serious research,” said Ken Johnson, a senior demographer at the Carsey School. “The definitions have been relatively stable since 1950. All of the sudden, they change these, and at least in my mind, there isn’t a compelling research-based process that has driven this decision.”
