hese data provided a record for each place-county part, thereby identifying the county or counties in which each place was located. The county information for each place was then matched against the list of metropolitan and micropolitan statistical area component counties as of the June 6, 2003 Office of Management and Budget definitions of those statistical areas. Finally, population data for incorporated places (as well as the unincorporated balance of each county, where applicable) were aggregated for all metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas, and for United States as a whole. Data used were from the 2003 vintage of the April 1, 2000 estimates base – a re-tabulation of Census 2000 population data in 2003 geography, including corrections to the census processed through the Count Question Resolution Program, as well as postcensal administrative updates, and geographic updates. The places included reflect the universe of places for which the Census Bureau publishes postcensal population estimates, including all actively functioning incorporated places, plus the census designated places of Honolulu, HI, and Arlington, VA (under special agreements between the Census Bureau and the states of Hawaii and Virginia). The number of counties, functioning minor civil divisions (MCDs), and incorporated places in 2003 was also aggregated for each metro and micro area to provide a total number of local governmental entities for each area.
Most people lived in incorporated places.
There were 19,450 incorporated places in the United States as of January 1, 2003. These places included more than 175 million people – just over 60 percent of the total population of the United States in Census 2000 (Table 1). The majority of the incorporated place population (over 153 million, or about 88 percent) lived inside metropolitan statistical areas (Table 2). Nearly 14 million persons (about 8 percent of the incorporated place population) lived inside incorporated places located within micropolitan statistical areas. Almost 8 million persons lived inside incorporated places that were not located in any metropolitan or micropolitan statistical area (outside core-based statistical areas (CBSAs)). These persons accounted for less than 5 percent of the total incorporated place population (Table 2).
Most people living in metropolitan statistical areas lived in incorporated places.
About 66 percent of the metropolitan population lived inside incorporated places (Table 1). The majority of residents in many large metropolitan statistical areas lived in incorporated places, with a few noteworthy exceptions, including the Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston,1 Philadelphia, and Washington metropolitan statistical areas,2 where most residents lived in unincorporated areas (Table 3). The largest percentages of residents living inside incorporated places tended to be found in metropolitan statistical areas in the Midwest and West regions (Figs. 1 and 2). These included the Carson City, NV Metropolitan Statistical Area, which was completely incorporated, as well as the Minneapolis, Chicago, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Phoenix, and San Francisco metropolitan statistical areas (Table 3).
Most people living in micropolitan statistical areas lived in unincorporated areas.
About 48 percent of the population inside micropolitan statistical areas lived in incorporated places, while about 52 percent lived in unincorporated areas (Table 1). Micropolitan statistical areas with the highest percentages of residents living in incorporated places tended to be located, again, in the Midwest and West (Figs. 1 and 2). These included the Butte-Silver Bow, MT and Juneau, AK areas, which were completely incorporated. Areas with the lowest percentages tended to be located in the Northeast and South regions. Noteworthy exceptions were the Hilo, Kahului-Wailuku, and Kapaa, HI; 3 Gardnerville Ranchos and Pahrump, NV; and Los Alamos, NM micropolitan statistical areas, which were completely unincorporated (Table 3).
Table 5 shows metro areas that had at least 100 governmental units, and that