ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Facing criticism from small cities that feared losing status and funding, the federal government says that it won’t raise the population threshold for what qualifies as a metro area. The Office of Budget and Management said Tuesday that it will keep the minimum population needed in a community’s core city at 50,000 residents in order to be designated a “metropolitan statistical area.” The federal government had been considering doubling that threshold to 100,000 people. Leaders of metro areas like Bismarck, North Dakota; Cheyenne, Wyoming; and Auburn, Alabama, had worried the change would prevent urban areas from getting designated federal funding.
Rapid City and 140 other cities would have been affected by the change. South Dakota’s Congressional delegation strongly opposed the proposal. Representative Dusty Johnson said Rapid City is a robust, growing city that deserves the federally-backed programs that come with the “metropolitan statistical area” classification.