RAPID CITY, S.D. — Facing criticism from small cities that feared losing status and funding, the federal government says that it won’t raise the population threshold for what qualifies as a metro area.
The Office of Budget and Management said Tuesday that it will keep the minimum population needed in a community’s core city at 50,000 residents in order to be designated a “metropolitan statistical area.”
The federal government had been considering doubling that threshold to 100,000 people.
Leaders of metro areas like Rapid City, Bismarck, North Dakota; and Cheyenne, Wyoming had worried the change would prevent urban areas from getting designated federal funding.
