History
The Baton Rouge metropolitan area was first defined in 1950. Then known as the Baton Rouge Standard Metropolitan Area (or Baton Rouge SMA), it consisted of a single parish – East Baton Rouge – and had a population of 158,236. Following a term change by the Bureau of the Budget (present-day Office of Management and Budget) in 1959, the Baton Rouge SMA became the Baton Rouge Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area (or Baton Rouge SMSA). By the census of 1960, the population had grown to 230,058, a 45% increase over the previous census. A total of 285,167 people lived in East Baton Rouge Parish in 1970.
Three additional parishes were added to the Baton Rouge SMSA in 1973 – Ascension, Livingston, and West Baton Rouge. These four parishes had a combined population of 375,628 in 1970. The area grew rapidly during the 1970s and by the 1980 census, the population had increased 32% to 494,151. In 1983, the official name was shortened to the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Statistical Area (or Baton Rouge MSA), which is still in use to date. 528,264 residents lived in the metropolitan statistical area in 1990 and 602,894 people lived in the four parishes by the year 2000.
In 2003, the Baton Rouge MSA was expanded to its current size with the addition of five more parishes – East Feliciana, Iberville, Pointe Coupee, St. Helena, and West Feliciana. This nine-parish region had a population of 705,973 in 2000.
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