wxman Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 I was reading this article below in the Houston Biz Journal and noticed something interesting: The U.S. Census Bureau has changed/updated the names to metropolitan areas across the country including Houston's. The new name for our metro is the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land metropolitan area. The old name was Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown metro area. Has anybody heard about this? Read the link below: http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2013/03/14/houston-harris-county-among.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronTiger Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 Interesting, especially since The Woodlands isn't even a real city (yet). I'm guessing the decision more involved with money instead of actual population. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livincinco Posted March 19, 2013 Share Posted March 19, 2013 I tried to look into this a little, and It looks like there was a change in the factors used to determine the parameters and names of MSAs after the 2000 census. In typical government fashion, those were probably just implemented now. I couldn't find anything specific on Houston, but it looks like the key phrase is that names were modified to allow "a fuller identification of places that represent the more important social and economic centers". My guess is that The Woodlands was determined to be more socially important, because it's a pretty sketchy argument to say that it's economically more important. In case anyone is really, really bored. This is the full document on the revised standards. http://www.census.gov/population/metro/files/00-32997.pdfEdit - actually, it looks like the census population of The Woodlands is larger than Baytown, so that might have had something to do with it. (The Woodlands is a census designated place even though it isn't a city). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClutchCity Posted March 19, 2013 Share Posted March 19, 2013 looks like the census population of The Woodlands is larger than Baytown, so that might have had something to do with it. (The Woodlands is a census designated place even though it isn't a city). Do you have any idea what Katy's is? They both seem to exploding(Grand Parkway extensions are only going to increase that) wouldn't be surprised if it replaced Sugar Land in the next few years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livincinco Posted March 19, 2013 Share Posted March 19, 2013 Do you have any idea what Katy's is? They both seem to exploding(Grand Parkway extensions are only going to increase that) wouldn't be surprised if it replaced Sugar Land in the next few years.You're right, but Katy doesn't show up as a consolidated number in the census because it gets broken under multiple designations. "Katy" is defined as the actual city only, so it shows up as only about 14k. Cinco Ranch is a CDP of about 18k, but I think that the balance of the area just gets grouped into unincorporated areas for census purposes. If you define "Katy" as the area served by Katy ISD, it looks like the population is about 220k. By contrast, the census population of The Woodlands is listed as 93k. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livincinco Posted March 19, 2013 Share Posted March 19, 2013 It's actually kind of interesting to look at how the evolution of the names used match the changes in the area.1990 - Houston, Galveston, Brazoria2000 - Houston, Sugarland, Baytown2013 - Houston, The Woodlands, Sugarland Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
htownswami Posted March 19, 2013 Share Posted March 19, 2013 I noticed this yesterday as well with the new metro pop numbers and was curious as to the change. I could not find any official announcement from the census. I think the county population figures may be impacting this as well. Will have to look to see if Montgomery has recently passed Brazoria in population? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedScare Posted March 19, 2013 Share Posted March 19, 2013 Montgomery County is larger and has been for awhile. Latest population is 485,047 (2012 est.). Brazoria is 324,769 (2012 est.). What I don't understand is why Pasadena is not named in the MSA. It has a population of 153,000. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wxman Posted March 19, 2013 Author Share Posted March 19, 2013 I tried to look into this a little, and It looks like there was a change in the factors used to determine the parameters and names of MSAs after the 2000 census. In typical government fashion, those were probably just implemented now. I couldn't find anything specific on Houston, but it looks like the key phrase is that names were modified to allow "a fuller identification of places that represent the more important social and economic centers". My guess is that The Woodlands was determined to be more socially important, because it's a pretty sketchy argument to say that it's economically more important.In case anyone is really, really bored. This is the full document on the revised standards.http://www.census.gov/population/metro/files/00-32997.pdfEdit - actually, it looks like the census population of The Woodlands is larger than Baytown, so that might have had something to do with it. (The Woodlands is a census designated place even though it isn't a city). Actually I'd argue that The Woodlands is just as important as any other economic center of Houston (Downtown, Uptown, Greenway, Energy Corridor, Westchase, ect.) The Woodlands is home to major energy/petroleum corporations including Anadarko and Exxon (even tho Exxon technically isn't The Woodlands, it identifies with The Woodlands more so than it does Spring). The Woodlands area--essentially including Oak Ridge and the Montgomery County side of Spring (aka, Rayford Rd----Imperial Oaks, Benders Landing, Fox Run, Legends Ranch, Legends Run, ect) has an enormous population. The Woodlands itself is basically 100k people plus another 50k within 3 miles (just a guess) between all the neighborhoods listed above. The Woodlands is no longer a quiet, sleepy suburb. It's a thriving business center and an important one for the north side of Houston. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedScare Posted March 19, 2013 Share Posted March 19, 2013 Pasadena dwarfs the Woodlands economically. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samagon Posted March 19, 2013 Share Posted March 19, 2013 with all the 2 letters from 2 word things, I was assuming it was going to be HoMe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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