Definition
This variable indicates the metropolitan area where the household is located. Metropolitan area is constructed using the 1950 census definition of Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). In 1950, the SMA is a county or group of contiguous counties that contained at least one city of 50,000+ residents. In order to be part of an SMA, a county either had to contain the central city, or had to be metropolitan in character and integrated with the central city. In order to be considered metropolitan in character, a county had to either contain 10,000 nonagricultural laborers, or contain at least one-tenth as many nonagricultural workers as worked in the county containing the central city of the SMA, or contain 50+ percent of its population in minor civil divisions that had a population density of 150+ persons per square mile and were contiguous to the central city, and have at least 2/3 of its employed residents working in nonagricultural occupations. For integration with the central city at least 25 percent of the county population would have resided in the central city of the metropolitan area.
