METRO codes for Idaho in 2022 1-Year ACS file

USA
1

Hello!

I was looking at the codes for METRO in the 2022 1-Year ACS file. I noticed that in the 2022 file nobody in Idaho is considered to be “not in a metropolitan area” compared to 2019 and 2021:

. tab metro year if statefip==16, m

                      |           Census year
  Metropolitan status |      2019       2021       2022 |     Total
----------------------+---------------------------------+----------
Metropolitan status i |     7,829      8,171     10,776 |    26,776 
Not in metropolitan a |     2,307      2,522          0 |     4,829 
In metropolitan area: |     1,913      1,843      2,886 |     6,642 
In metropolitan area: |     5,311      5,400      6,222 |    16,933 
----------------------+---------------------------------+----------
                Total |    17,360     17,936     19,884 |    55,180

After looking further, it seems that it may be due to the METRO status of the 900 and 1000 PUMAs now being considered “indeterminable” after previously being considered to be “Not in a metropolitan area.”

. keep if statefip==16
(9,810,350 observations deleted)


. tab puma year if metro==0, m

Public Use |
 Microdata |           Census year
      Area |      2019       2021       2022 |     Total
-----------+---------------------------------+----------
       100 |     1,740      1,837      1,754 |     5,331 
       300 |     1,664      1,753      1,627 |     5,044 
       400 |     1,200      1,250      1,460 |     3,910 
       900 |         0          0      1,081 |     1,081 
      1000 |         0          0      1,263 |     1,263 
      1100 |     1,543      1,590      1,879 |     5,012 
      1300 |     1,682      1,741      1,712 |     5,135 
-----------+---------------------------------+----------
     Total |     7,829      8,171     10,776 |    26,776 


. tab metro year if puma==900 | puma==1000, m

                      |           Census year
  Metropolitan status |      2019       2021       2022 |     Total
----------------------+---------------------------------+----------
Metropolitan status i |         0          0      2,344 |     2,344 
Not in metropolitan a |     2,307      2,522          0 |     4,829 
----------------------+---------------------------------+----------
                Total |     2,307      2,522      2,344 |     7,173

I was just hoping to confirm that I am thinking about this correctly and that I should consider 100% of Idaho to live in a metropolitan area based on the METRO variable?

Thank you so much!
Natalie

2

METRO is determined based on the overlap of PUMAs with metro areas (METAREA). When the metro status (METRO value) of a PUMA is indeterminable, it is because the PUMA lies only partially within metropolitan areas or central/principal cities. PUMA definitions change over time, so some PUMAs that were previously identified as being in a metro area (or not) can change and have an indeterminable metro status. The 2022 ACS is the first sample to use the new 2020 PUMA definitions. So, PUMAs 900 and 1000 within Idaho had boundary changes that now prevent their metro status from being determined. One should not interpret the data as meaning that everyone in Idaho lives in a metro area. Rather, the PUMAs classified as metropolitan in METRO overlap enough with metro areas (in METAREA) to be classified as metropolitan, but that these other two PUMAs overlap with metro areas in a way that makes it impossible to determine the metropolitan status of a given individual living within them. You may be interested in the variable PCTMETRO, which gives the likelihood that a given household lives in a metro area, based on the population share of their PUMA of residence that lives in a metro area.

3

Hi Isabel,

Thank you so much for your response! I really appreciate it.

Best,
Natalie