Question about Nashville MSA

[nashscan]

If I live in the city of Spring Hill on the Maury County side, am I considered a resident of the Nashville metropolitan area?  I know Maury County is not included in the 13 county MSA, but Spring Hill straddles Williamson.  Does that sweep all of its residents into the MSA? 

 

Confused and just want to be invited to the MSA party,

 

Preston

[Hey_Hey]

Maury County was just added to the Nashville MSA last month. You're now part of the party!

[timmay143]

 

[UTgrad09]

Yes, Maury County has been added. Previously, the Maury side of Spring Hill was not considered part of the MSA (which seems kind of silly...but my problems with the way the Census Bureau draws metropolitan areas along county borders is for another thread...).

However, the Maury side of Spring Hill was previously included in Nashville's MPO.

[L'burgnative]

I'm surprised it's taken this long; a little over ten years ago I worked in Nashville commuting from Columbia, and US-31 / Saturn Parkway and US-412 or any connecter road to I-65 to and from Nashville was always heavily congested.  You would think more then half the county worked in Nashville MSA.  Traveling north in the morning on 31 approaching Saturn parkway I promise you it was 50/1 people getting on Saturn Parkway East to Nashville then workers heading to the Saturn plant, and this is a time when Saturn was full steam ahead.  I'd say area's like Mount Pleasant that are on the southern end of the county probably don't commute to Nashville, but as dumb as it sounds a lot of people commute to Nashville from my home town of Lawrenceburg then you would think so maybe a good number of them do as well.

[UTgrad09]

I'm surprised it's taken this long; a little over ten years ago I worked in Nashville commuting from Columbia, and US-31 / Saturn Parkway and US-412 or any connecter road to I-65 to and from Nashville was always heavily congested.  You would think more then half the county worked in Nashville MSA.  Traveling north in the morning on 31 approaching Saturn parkway I promise you it was 50/1 people getting on Saturn Parkway East to Nashville then workers heading to the Saturn plant, and this is a time when Saturn was full steam ahead.  I'd say area's like Mount Pleasant that are on the southern end of the county probably don't commute to Nashville, but as dumb as it sounds a lot of people commute to Nashville from my home town of Lawrenceburg then you would think so maybe a good number of them do as well.

Spring Hill made the difference. In 2000, Maury was right on the cusp of being added (about 22-23% of the workforce commuted to the Nashville MSA). Spring Hill had about 7,500 residents then. It grew to over 29,000 at the last Census. Even though most of the growth was in Williamson, a lot of businesses opened up on the Williamson side, attracting workers living on the Maury side. The other big thing that happened is the flux in employment at the Saturn plant. As more jobs got laid off/shipped away, residents had to find new places to work...and in the process, Spring Hill transitioned from being an employment center itself to being more of a traditional suburb.

Just a note: looking at some of the other counties, Bedford and Marshall (now in the CSA) are close to being added to the MSA...and don't be surprised if DeKalb (Smithville) is added, too. (This would be in 2023, btw)