New MSA List Released
As part of the 2020 Decennial Census, the U.S. Census Bureau has released its latest delineations for the nation’s Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs). The changes include 16 new MSAs and 15 lost MSAs, for a net gain of one MSA. 37 MSAs lost a single county, 30 MSAs gained one county, and 5 MSAs gained more than one county. The Lubbock, TX MSA and the Mayagüez, PR MSA both gained three counties, while the Bend, OR, Ponce, PR, and Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN MSAs each gained two counties.
2020 Decennial Census ZCTA Land Area and ZCTA-to-County Relationship File Incorporated
The 2020 Decennial Census data on ZCTA land area have been released, allowing us to incorporate these new values into our annual processes for IMPLAN’s Zip-Code Data. In addition to being an interesting data point in the Area Demographics section of IMPLAN, zip-code-level land area values are also used in the estimation of a small set of other zip-code-level values and to determine which county each zip-code belongs to, which is a critical factor in the geographic balancing of the zip-code data.
CEW Data Released in 2022 NAICS Code Scheme
The Bureau of Labor Statistic’s 2022 Census of Employment and Wages (CEW) data were released using the new 2022 NAICS scheme. In the transition to the new scheme, various industries have been given new codes, have been consolidated, or have been expanded. Examples of each type of change include:
- The NAICS Code for Software Publishers, has been changed from 511210 to 513210.
- NAICS Code 335911 - Storage Battery Manufacturing and NAICS Code 335912 - Primary Battery Manufacturing have been consolidated into a single NAICS Code: 335910 - Battery Manufacturing.
- NAICS Code 325315 - Compost Manufacturing is a completely new NAICS Code
Full details about the changes are available on the Census Bureau’s NAICS website.
Now Using County-Specific Average Household Size Data When Estimating Total Households by County
Prior to the 2022 IMPLAN Data, we were using table “B25010 - Average Household Size of Occupied Housing Units by Tenure” from the 1-year American Community Survey (ACS), which only contains national and state-level data. We would then apply state-level growth rates in average household size since the last Decennial Census to county-level values of average household size from that Decennial Census to obtain county-level estimates of household counts by county. Beginning with the 2022 IMPLAN Data, we now obtain average household size data for the nation, all states, Puerto Rico, and all counties directly from the 5-year version of the same ACS table, thereby doing away with the need to use state growth rates applied to older county-level values.
Incorporation of 2016-2020 5-Year ACS Commuting Flows Data
Every five years, the Census Bureau releases new 5-Year ACS Commuting Flows data. Knowing workers’ place of work relative to their place of residence is important for more accurately attributing payroll taxes as accruing to the place of work and household spending as originating from the place of residence. The ACS Commuting Flows data account for remote working but only ask about the primary place of work. These data are important not only for MRIO analyses, where the commuting flow geography pairs come into play but also in single-region analyses where any net outflows of commuter earnings (net of payroll taxes) will be properly removed from the analysis results as one of several forms of leakage.
GOVERNMENT RESOURCES
ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTAs)
Written November 29, 2023