IT probably gonna fall down to Urban Area. Census probably know the growth of the counties can made it hard for commuting patterns so after the look at the urban area and us connecting that’ll be their reason fo reunify. I could see them giving us a pass for that.
Thanks for this map @TedF
I love this sort of visual.
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The current definitions, and how they apply to the Triangle (which was split) vs. DFW (which was combined), are explained pretty well in this Brookings whitepaper from 2005, when the definitions were introduced.
As mentioned upthread, Brookings re-examined the late-2010s LEHD (commuting) figures and thinks the Triangle has met that threshold. Maybe OMB is working from even newer numbers which, post-Covid, will have a big impact… or maybe not. Only they know! And only they can do anything about it! Personally, I find sanity is best maintained by not getting emotionally invested in things that are out of your control – and how bureaucrats read tea leaves is a prime example.
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Ya know I hate to say this but I think that’s my problem on most issues I talk about on this forum.
Awesome and thank you 
Also, you seem to have the gift that Data from Star Trek had, the ability to turn off your emotions 
Yes, I am very jealous 
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im not sure how RTP will morph and change. my experience there was in a health club, a pharmaceutical lab and a auto body part delivery warehouse. i always commuted from north raleigh midway between 440 and 540. lab work requires a physical presence, health club required a physical presence and delivery required a commute and then a vehicle to deliver stuff. if remote work stuff continues to diminish the commute to RTP, then great, but what will replace it in RTP?
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A group named Woods and Poole has put out projections for county and metro populations for 2060 and what they predict for the Raleigh MSA and Wake County is staggering. I lifted this out of a post in City-Data forums. I tried to find the data sets on my own but they require payment for the data (and it ain’t cheap!). Needless to say I passed on that.
Raleigh MSA: 2,651,411
Wake: 2,156,385
Durham-Chapel Hill MSA: 933,562
Without adding any more counties, this puts the Triangle at ~3.6M
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Excellent find, thank you! 
Care to share the post? Please and thank you! 
Are they factoring ‘The Great Salting of 2052’ ?
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Add that to our list for the MLB push.
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Obviously just a guess as much as anything that far away, but projecting out the Triangle MSA to be 400k bigger than the Nashville MSA is wild.
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you mean if you add Raleigh and Durham together?
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CMSAs have changed the landscape IMO
Even with MSAs changing or being updated
Yeah exactly, which currently the combined is only slightly bigger than Nashville so that’s a pretty significant increase by then.
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IMO, the Triangle has a stronger foundation for growth that goes beyond being a trendy city with a strong brand. We have a more educated populace and a stronger STEM economy.
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Fully agree, just interesting to me to see that big of a difference for an area most would put on a tier above us.
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Two reasons for that (despite what others might say)
- We are a bifurcated metro area
- Raleigh doesn’t have a strong brand identity
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Im sure if I was president of visit Raleigh I would brand everything Raleigh forget Durham I would use the Raleigh-area title.
Mistake #1 was not fighting for the Canes to carry Raleigh’s name instead of Carolina. If the team was in Durham, you can bet your bottom dollar that they would have fought for their city’s name to be attached.
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