a major city together with its suburbs and nearby cities, towns, and environs over which the major city exercises a commanding economic and social influence. Literally construed, metropolis from the Greek means “mother city,” and by...

A large population centre of the USA including the adjoining communities socially and economically integrated with it. In rural areas, except New England, MSAs refer to counties. This term re-placed the ‘Standard Metropolitan Statistical...

A term used in the wage statistics of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (USA). This concept was introduced into the US census in 1950 to describe a metropolitan labour market in which COMMUTING connected cities and the surrounding areas. See also: local...

In the United States, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has produced a formal definition of metropolitan areas. These are referred to as "Metropolitan Statistical Areas" (MSAs) and "Combined Statistical Areas." An earlier version of the MSA was...