Metropolitan Areas Of The United States And Puerto Rico: Fill & Download for Free

You said “metro area.” I’m assuming that the closest to what you’d asking for is the Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) defined by the US Bureau of the Census and shown in medium green on this map:The northernmost MSA is Fairbanks, Alaska at about 65°N.The westernmost MSA is Honolulu, Hawaii at about 158°W.The southernmost MSA in the 50 states is Kahului-Wailuku-Lahaina, Hawaii, centered at about 21°N and just a little south and east of Honolulu. However, the Census also divides Puerto Rico into MSAs. In Puerto Rico, the MSAs of San Germán, Ponce, and Guayama all extend south of 18°N. I can’t tell by looking which one extends the farthest south; my guess is that Guayama sticks out just the teensiest bit farther south than the others, but I could be wrong. (And then you have to ask: are we ranking “southernmost” by the latitude of the geographical center, or by the farthest south extent, or something else?) So if you include Puerto Rico, it’s one of those three MSAs in Puerto Rico.The easternmost MSA in the 50 states is Bangor, Maine, which is centered around 68°W. However, here comes Puerto Rico again! If we include the MSAs in Puerto Rico, then the San Juan-Carolina-Caguas MSA extends east of 66 °W and would be the easternmost MSA.Metropolitan statistical area - WikipediaStatistical area of the United States, defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget and used by the U.S. Census Bureau In the United States , a metropolitan statistical area ( MSA ) is a geographical region with a relatively high population density at its core and close economic ties throughout the area. Such regions are neither legally incorporated as a city or town would be, nor are they legal administrative divisions like counties or separate entities such as states ; because of this, the precise definition of any given metropolitan area can vary with the source. The statistical criteria for a standard metropolitan area were defined in 1949 and redefined as metropolitan statistical area in 1983. [1] A typical metropolitan area is centered on a single large city that wields substantial influence over the region (e.g., New York City or Philadelphia ). However, some metropolitan areas contain more than one large city with no single municipality holding a substantially dominant position (e.g., Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex , Norfolk-Virginia Beach (Hampton Roads) , Riverside–San Bernardino (Inland Empire) or Minneapolis–Saint Paul ( Twin Cities )). MSAs are defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and used by the Census Bureau and other federal government agencies for statistical purposes. [2] Definitions [ edit ] U.S. Census statistics for metropolitan areas are reported according to the following definitions. The U.S. Office of Management and Budget defines a set of core based statistical areas (CBSAs) throughout the country. CBSAs are delineated on the basis of a central urban area or urban cluster – in other words: a contiguous area of relatively high population density. CBSAs are composed of counties and county equivalents . [3] The counties containing the core urban area are known as the central counties of the CBSA. A central county is a county in which 50% of its population lives in urban areas of at least 10,000 in population, or where a population of 5,000 are located in a single urban area of at least 10,000 in population where that urban area is split between more than one county. [4] Additional surrounding counties, known as outlying counties , can be included in the CBSA if these counties have strong social and economic ties to the central counties as measured by commuting and employment. Outlying counties are included in the CBSA if 25% of the workers living in the county work in the central county or counties or, conversely, 25% of the employment in the county is held by workers who live in the central county or counties. All counties in a CBSA must be contiguous, and a county can only be included within one CBSA. [4] In New England , towns have precedence over counties, so statistically similar areas are defined in terms of town-based units known as New England city and town areas (NECTAs). Adjacent CBSAs are merged into a single CBSA when the central county or counties of one CBSA qualify as an outlying cohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_statistical_area

Speaking as a Canadian who is quite aware of the background to Canada’s policy of official bilingualism, I fail to see how making Spanish and Chinese official languages of the United States would be worthwhile. Yes, Spanish and Chinese rank second and third among the languages of the United States, but an official policy of multilingualism requires more than sheer numbers. I once contrasted the positions of the United States’ Spanish-speaking minority and Canada’s French-speaking minority in a way that would be relevant.French is spoken as a primary language by a higher proportion of Canadians than Spanish is by Americans, but the three factors which really separate French in Canada from Spanish in America are geographical concentration, institutional support, and chronological depth.The vast majority of Francophones, approaching 85-90% of the total, live within the boundaries of the province of Quebec, where they form four-fifths of the population of the province (and two-thirds of the population of greater Montreal). This concentration not only ensures that Francophones can serve as a concentrated block in national politics, it makes it much easier to provide all kinds of services in the French language. Modern Quebec is a society where French is the default language of society. Governments have been elected and have lost power based on whether or not they're seen as promoting this cause.On top of this, the French language is solidly implanted in Canada. French predates English as the European language most commonly spoken in most of Canada, save in British Columbia (and even there, many of the Hudson Bay Company employees were Canadiens). People may dispute the status of the French language in Canada, but hardly anyone denies it a place.This is in contrast to Spanish in the United States. Yes, Spanish is very widely spoken across the United States and there are numerous communities of note where Spanish is a main or even the main language (New York City in 2012 and in 2018 struck me as being very bilingual). There are many places in the United States, New Mexico coming particularly to mind but also including other Southwest border areas and Florida, where there have been large numbers of Spanish-speakers for some time. My understanding, though, is that Spanish-speakers are very dispersed throughout the United States, mostly live as minorities, are often recent immigrants or descended from said, and shift rapidly to English first in public life then in private life. Puerto Rico is overwhelmingly populated by speakers of Spanish, but not only is Puerto Rico literally separated from the continental United States most American speakers of Spanish have no meaningful connections to this Caribbean island.The American situation would be like that of Canada if 85-90% of American Spanish-speakers lived in a single sizable state--California, maybe, or Texas--where Spanish was the default language of public life and English was only a second language there. In such a scenario, where speakers of Spanish were used to being a local majority and where their group interests simply could not be ignored at the national level, the American situation might indeed compare to the Canadian.The Spanish language in the United States is widely spoken, more widely spoken than the below map from 2000 nearly two decades ago shows. Is it widely spoken enough to justify a national policy of official status for Spanish, especially at a time when xenophobic populism focused against speakers of Spanish is at an all-time high?Canada certainly hosts a non-trivial amount of anti-Francophone sentiment, but by and large English Canadians were aware that the French fact simply had to be accepted and somehow accommodated, that anything like official hostility towards Francophones would shortly result in the independence of Québec and the fragmentation of Canada. In the current situation in the United States, where Spanish-speakers are in a weaker and more vulnerable position than Francophones in Canada ever were, the backlash to official status for Spanish at the national level could be extreme. This might be something better accommodated at the state level.As for Chinese, while Chinese does rank third among languages spoken in the United States it is in a much weaker position than Spanish. The label of “Chinese”, for instance, obscures the differences between mutually unintelligible Chinese varieties like Cantonese and Fujianese and Hakka; in a very real sense, there is no single Chinese-speaking minority. Whereas native speakers of Spanish number in several tens of millions, there are only millions of numbers of Chinese, with the biggest numbers in widely separated metropolitan areas. More, whereas Spanish is relatively widely spoken as a second language by many native speakers of English, Chinese is spoken by very few people as a second language in the United States. Making Chinese an official language, especially at a time of growing Sino-American hostilities, might be counterproductive.Trying to boost the fluency of Americans in languages other than English, particularly in world languages like Chinese and Spanish, is a good idea. That would be best accomplished by improving education. An extension of official language status, especially one accompanied without improving language education, is a poor idea. Given the sheer size of the United States and the uneven distribution of speakers of Spanish and Chinese across its territory, and taking note—as, alas, I must—of the relative vulnerability of these language minorities compared to others which have been able to get recognition, I think that any push would be best accomplished at the local level. Making Spanish and Chinese official languages nationally might be impossible nationally, but might be more practical at the level of states.

I lived in Puerto Rico the first 22 years of my life and my parents still live there. I grew up between Cayey and San Juan, two very different areas since the capital, San Juan, is urban and in the coast, and Cayey is rural and between mountains. Growing up in Puerto Rico is quite peculiar, I will try to give you a chronological perspective of my experience.As a young child growing up in the Puerto Rican 80s one would watch cartoons and locally produced kids programs in the local TV channels. Cable TV is now widespread in Puerto Rico so you could watch Nickelodeon if you want but when I was growing up in Cayey, local TV was all there was. Cartoons were mostly Spanish dubbed versions of Hanna Barbera creations such as Scooby Doo, The Flintstones, Yogi Bear etc etc in the afternoon you would also get the Spanish version of the Simpsons amongst many other programs. Locally produced content consisted mostly of game shows for kids like Pacheco, Maria Chuzema and Chicola y la Ganga. If you have ever watched the Bozo show, you would have a good idea of what these shows were like, except they were all in Spanish.Between ages 7 - 12 I enjoyed climbing trees, chasing and running away from stray dogs, riding my bike, playing in the swings and enjoying my youth with other friends from my neighborhood. Most of our time was spent outside and we were very active. Game consoles were still very hard to come by so we would just play outside, also there is no such thing as a "cold" season in Puerto Rico so you can enjoy great weather all year round. In fact seasons are barely noticeable in PR and tress don't even lost their leaves.At school we would take classes from 8:30 until 3pm with a 15 minute break around 10 am and a 1 hour break at noon. Lunch is served by the public school system and it was somewhat mediocre from what I remember but good enough to eat. Dishes I remember included, hot dogs, corned beef with rice, rice and beans, ham with pineapple and other not so succulent options. All these dishes we accompanied by a pouch with 2% milk inside...yuck. Haha pretty weird combination now that I think about it. Anyhow, it was alright for a kid growing up. At noon we would play basketball with the other kids and sometimes hide and seek or another very popular game called rescate. I remember coming back to class very sweaty from lunch break.Youth (7-12) in the Puerto Rican countryside life was very simple and we found very creative ways to have fun with what we had, think of "Where the wild things are". I must say, now that I look back, I realize how amazing it was, and how much I enjoyed those times with my friends and family, definitely beats playing nintendo.When I was 14 my family moved to San Juan for good and we stopped bouncing between the countryside and the city. The teens in San Juan Puerto Rico were definitely very "cool" and fun. from 9th grade until I was a senior I went to a private school where most of the kids came from relatively wealthy families, lots of them even got cars upon turning 16, some even BMWs! I was a bit of a rebel without a cause because I did not quite identify with that lifestyle since I came from a more modest family were both of my parents worked extremely hard to obtain the things we had. Anyhow, everyone still got along, but for me, high school was definitely a bit of a bubble and a completely different experience to what a public school would have been. Public schools in Puerto Rico are more "real" and in my opinion they are a better gage of what is going on in Puerto Rican society as a whole, I think the same thing happens in the USA.In high school most of the kids were either surfers (being that the northern and westerns coasts of Puerto Rico have plenty of beaches with nice waves), rappers or rockers. Students would distinctively categorize themselves and each other in these three groups. Surfers surfed, rappers listened to reggaeton (a big part of current urban Puerto Rican culture) and rockers listened to rock both in Spanish and English. Most of the music we listen comes from the local radio market which is very saturated. I believe Puerto Rico is one of the countries with the highest amount of radio stations in its air waves. The Music we listen to on the radio depends on the radio station, some of them play rock, others reggaeton and then you also have various stations where everything goes, they will basically play a medley of top 40 songs. We also have "specialty" radio stations were only salsa is played (93.7 FM also known as la Zeta), then we have 91.3 where mostly classical music is played and finally University Radio 89.7 where the University of Puerto Rico broadcasts a medley of news shows and specialty music shows as well as variety shows. Radio Universidad, would be very similar to what NPR is in the states. I grew up listening to the latter 2 stations, as that is what my parents listened in their cars and at home. We also have a lot of AM radio stations, some religious some political amongst other specializations.At one point in time, possibly around 93-95, there was a huge boom of roller blades in Puerto Rico and everyone and their mother was rollerblading. This fad died, as many fads do in Puerto Rico and was later replaced by skateboards or just completely abandoned by most of the band-wagoners. I don't know what it is about Puerto Rico but we have these fads and all of the sudden everyone is doing or buying something and then it just dies and no one does it anymore. This has happened with countless things from sports to fashion to music and everything in between.I was an aggressive rollerblader myself, so I spent a lot of my youth meeting with friends and skating around San Juan. In the weekends we would meet in the a determined local "spot" and skate from noon until very late at night. We would all try to out trick each other spinning over sets of stairs, going down rails and jumping over obstacles, it was a very fun time. Every so often we would also ride the public bus and go to other spots in the metropolitan area where we knew we could skate, the financial district for example was one of them, Old San Juan was another and there were a couple others in Guaynabo. We had a crew of about 10 kids that all got along and skated pretty well, some of them even appeared on skating videos and had sponsors.One grows up and matures quickly in Puerto Rico. Drinking age is 18 so it is common to see very young people, 16 and up, going out to bars and socializing with their peers. Laws are not as strict in PR as they are in the United States so bars don't really pay much attention to how old someone is, a common phrase we have is "If you can reach the bar, you can drink", and so most bars sell you beer, usually the local one "Medalla" without even asking for identification. This relaxed style of living applies to Puerto Rico as a whole and we have a very laid back way of going about things.All in all growing up in Puerto Rico was awesome, I would not change it for anything in life. We have rhythm in our blood so we love to go dancing and this plays a big role in growing up, we are used to start going to clubs at the tender age of 17, be it to listen to reggaeton, electronic dance music or salsa, we just love moving. We also love going to the beach and sun bathing with friends. Drugs are definitely prevalent in Puerto Rico and while growing up at some point or another one will more than likely encounter them unless you live in an extremely sheltered environment and are super naive, but we tend not to be naive. Violence is also very common in Puerto Rico and one learns about crimes from a very young age, as someone else said, it is not uncommon to read on the newspaper "7 people murdered during the weekend" or something along those lines. We have about ~900-1000 murders per year in an area that is 100 miles long by 35 miles wide. Regardless of the statistics, I have never witnessed a murder in my life but I have definitely experienced the sorrow of it since I had a very good friend of mine from my skater crew get murdered at the age of 22 because he had started getting involved in the reggaeton scene as a singer and word in the street is he had possibly had an affair with some girl that apparently had connections to a trigger happy individual... any how, this crime was never solved and to this day we don't know who did it, this happens to most murder cases in PR—they are never solved. All that said, you can live your whole life in Puerto Rico without ever witnessing a crime, or being a victim of one, it really depends on how much you expose yourself and what kind of environment you live in.In conclusion I would like to say that growing up in Puerto Rico is just like growing up anywhere else in the world except that the climate is always nice and we are very open people. We like to have fun and just enjoy life overall, yes there are many problems in our country but despite all this we manage to still be one of the "happiest countries in the world" http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7487143.stm and this can be seen in our youth, we love life and and try to enjoy it as much as we can.Hope that gives you a general idea of what it is like to grow up in Puerto Rico.