Omaha Forums

After reading through the US Census web site, it appears they won't be waiting until 2023 to look into refedining CSA (Combined Statistical Area) or MSA (Metropolitan Statisical Area) components..

In 2018 they will be redefining these areas. Many MSA's and CSA's will stay the same.. But I wonder, as it relates to the Omaha and Lincoln MSA's, if the commuting % has reached the 15% level which means a combined Omaha-Lincoln CSA..

This should be very interesting..because if you combine both, based on the latest 2016 Census estimate, this would put a Omaha-Lincoln CSA at a population of 1,309,000 million.. Ranking it as the 43rd largest CSA (currently, Omaha is ranked the 56th largest CSA at just above 960,000).

I can actually see this combined CSA happening next year. It all hinges on that 15%..

Your thoughts?...

Ciao..LiO...Peace

Does anyone know what our current interchange rate is, and whether that means people commuting to Lincoln, from Lincoln, or a combination? I've commuted both to and from Lincoln, and I would welcome a combined Omaha-Lincoln CSA!

The Wikipedia article on CSA also said "CSAs often represent regions with overlapping labor and media markets". I wonder if that would finally bring WOWT back to Lincoln?

EricHaley wrote:Does anyone know what our current interchange rate is, and whether that means people commuting to Lincoln, from Lincoln, or a combination? I've commuted both to and from Lincoln, and I would welcome a combined Omaha-Lincoln CSA!

The Wikipedia article on CSA also said "CSAs often represent regions with overlapping labor and media markets". I wonder if that would finally bring WOWT back to Lincoln?

I'm not completely sure what the % is now. My hope is that it's at 15% or higher which would mean a combined Omaha-Lincoln CSA. I believe they've been measuring the commuter patterns over a 5 year period:

"The Office of Management and Budget will review the delineations of all existing CBSAs and related statistical areas in 2018 using 2011–2015 5-year commuting and employment estimates from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey."...

From what I remember, back in the mid part of last decade (around 2005) the Omaha-Lincoln commuter percentage measured 7%.. Which even back then, I thought was a bit low..

My feeling is that now, there is a better than 50/50 chance the number is at 15%. We will find out soon enough that's for sure ...

Ciao..LiO...Peace

Perhaps if we get a combined CSA, Nielsen could redefine the Omaha DMA so it actually reflects our marketing area.

guy4omaha wrote:Perhaps if we get a combined CSA, Nielsen could redefine the Omaha DMA so it actually reflects our marketing area.

Indeed. They should go hand in hand.. But with Nielsen, you never know ...

Ciao..LiO...Peace

Lincoln better get annexing to make it bigger for us we have done our part! Btw why hasn't Lincoln annexed as liberally as Omaha has? There's a problem there.

OmahaFan wrote:Lincoln better get annexing to make it bigger for us we have done our part! Btw why hasn't Lincoln annexed as liberally as Omaha has? There's a problem there.

Lincoln actually does annex pretty liberally. Only about %10 of the population of Lancaster county (30,000 people) lives outside of Lincoln compared to almost %20 of the population of Douglas County (100,000 people) who live outside of Omaha. Lincoln annexes most of the urbanized land relatively quickly. But that doesn't matter anyway, since MSAs and CSAs are measured on the county, not city level. Omaha/Lincoln could annex all of their respective counties and it wouldn't change the size of their MSAs or the commuting patterns used to calculate them.

Garrett wrote:

OmahaFan wrote:Lincoln better get annexing to make it bigger for us we have done our part! Btw why hasn't Lincoln annexed as liberally as Omaha has? There's a problem there.

Lincoln actually does annex pretty liberally. Only about %10 of the population of Lancaster county (30,000 people) lives outside of Lincoln compared to almost %20 of the population of Douglas County (100,000 people) who live outside of Omaha. Lincoln annexes most of the urbanized land relatively quickly. But that doesn't matter anyway, since MSAs and CSAs are measured on the county, not city level. Omaha/Lincoln could annex all of their respective counties and it wouldn't change the size of their MSAs or the commuting patterns used to calculate them.

This is correct. Annexation won't matter as it relates to a potential combined Omaha-Lincoln CSA for 2018. The population will be what is estimated (currently at 1,309,000 million according to the 2016 estimate if you combine both)..

The key is the commuter % hitting that 15% number...

Ciao..LiO...Peace