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Table 3. Major Metropolitan Areas as Officially Defined and as Defined Under Current Standards: 1940-1990

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Table 3. Major Metropolitan Areas as Officially Defined and as Defined Under Current Standards: 1940-1990

(Population in thousands. Data for 1960, 1970, and 1980 include corrections made after publication of final census reports.)

Year	METROPOLITAN DEFINITIONS REPORTED IN CENSUS						METROPOLITAN DEFINITIONS USING CURRENT STANDARDS^/1
	Number of areas	Land area (square miles)	Population	Change since previous census^/2		Percent of U.S. total	Number of areas	Land area (square miles)³	Population	Change since previous census^/2		Percent of U.S. total
	Number of areas	Land area (square miles)	Population	Number	Percent	Percent of U.S. total	Number of areas	Land area (square miles)³	Population	Number	Percent	Percent of U.S. total
¹Major metropolitan areas (MMAs; areas of one million or more population) as they would have been defined assuming current MA standards (those adopted in 1990) had been in effect. (Certain minor changes in the standards adopted in 1990 have not yet been fully checked for possible effects on 1940-80 definitions.) ²In constant (end-of-decade) boundaries. ³1940-80 based on 1980 land-area measurements for counties.
1940							11	22,977	33,799	(NA)	(NA)	25.6
1950	14	35,170	44,946	7,116	18.8	29.7	14	39,026	45,524	7,369	19.3	30.1
1960	22	56,694	63,851	12,319	23.9	35.6	22	71,948	68,118	13,987	25.8	38.0
1970	31	111,857	83,332	11,998	14.4	41.0	32	144,800	95,103	14,529	18.0	46.8
1980	35	163,752	104,024	6,940	7.1	45.9	35	177,367	107,655	7,707	7.7	47.5
1990	40	187,334	124,776	13,444	12.1	50.2	40	232,030	132,713	14,225	12.0	53.4

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Metropolitan Growth and Expansion in the 1980s

1992 changes in metropolitan geography and their relationship to the population growth of MAs since the previous, post-1980 updating.

Page Last Revised - January 22, 2022

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