Most metropolitan areas in the United States that have been losing people are in the North or East.
The areas shrinking fastest in the 1990s were Utica-Rome, New York; Binghamton, New York; Steubenville-Weirton, Ohio-West Virginia; and Grand Forks, North Dakota-Minnesota.
A metropolitan area is also sometimes known as a commuter belt or a labor market area.
One of the most common reasons people move away from metropolitan areas is to find a new job in a different city or town.
