Future metropolitan areas/additions

[golden eagle]

I think Tupelo, MS will be a metro in the future. Heck, I'm surprised they're not one now. I also see no reason why the Golden Triangle (Columbus-Starkville-West Point) shouldn't be one either. Maybe even Meridian sometime in the future.

In south Mississippi, I see Pearl River County being part of the New Orleans metro and Covington County being a part of the Hattiesburg metro.

[froggie]

Tupelo isn't one because they're still too small.  Golden Triangle isn't one because of the same reason plus the 3 cities are very spread out.

I don't see Meridian becoming one without a major new employer taking up shop there.  IIRC, Census uses a population of 50K in either the center city or in the urbanized area as a baseline for "metropolitan area".   Even with annexation, the city has lost population over the past 15 years and is now under 40K.

Also, I don't see Pearl River County becoming part of the New Orleans metro anytime soon.  Census determines such things based on the percentage of commuters that commute into the core metropolitan area.  Speaking from experience (I was one myself for 3 years), *A LOT* of Pearl River County's commuters work at Stennis, not in NOLA.

[formulanone]

With the "housing crisis" being what it is, it might be 20 years until a new metropolitan area is defined, unless a breakthrough in cheaper housing technology and really cheap land is sold, divided, et cetera. Perhaps one of those small Midwestern towns that used to give vouchers or free land if you stayed for 3 years, just so the population doesn't sink to double-digits. With so many jobs being exported, there's going to be even less growth in growing rural areas.

[codyg1985]

In Huntsville, AL, I expect Lincoln County, TN to be added to the Huntsville MSA. South Lincoln County around the AL state line is getting quite a few subdivisions, and you see a whole lot of Lincoln County car tags on US 231/431 north of Huntsville.

The commuting patterns would also suggest combining the Huntsville, AL and Decatur, AL MSA's into one. I could also see Marshall County, AL being combined with Huntsville and Decatur, but I am not sure if that is as likely. Even less likely but possible would be adding Jackson County to Huntsville, but the county is so large and the eastern part of the county may even send commuters to Chattanooga.