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Description

CNTYGP97 identifies the 1970 county group--a geographic area with at least 250,000 residents--where the household was enumerated.

The 1970 county group codes consist of two components: the first 3 digits identify an "area" and the last 2 digits identify a "subarea". These distinct areas and subareas are displayed on the maps available through the 1970 County Group Definitions page.

According to 1970 Census Bureau documentation (Public Use Samples of Basic Records from the 1970 Census: Description and Technical Documentation, pp. 4-5):

Every Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area (SMSA) of 250,000 or more population is identified as a subarea (or as a combination of two or more sub-areas) except in New England and Hawaii. In New England where SMSA's cross county lines, the SMSA's are appropriated in terms of entire counties, a convention adopted in certain other statistical series as well. In Hawaii, the city of Honolulu and the remainder of the State are identified...
The "areas" delineated correspond to economic areas designated by the Bureau of Economic Analysis [formerly the Office of Business Economics], Regional Economics Division, (or occasionally combinations of related economic areas where necessary to meet population criteria). The areas are based on a nodal-functional area concept. That is, to each urban center are attached those surrounding county units where economic activity is focused directly or indirectly on that center. These areas represent an extension of the SMSA concept -- a primary area of economic activity and commuting -- to include the rest of the area for which its central city is the trade and labor market center. Thus SMSA's are normally at the center of these areas, though some SMSA's are considered to be integral parts of larger metropolitan complexes. In rural parts of the country, with no SMSA's the comparable economic centers are cities of 20,000 to 50,000 population.
Subareas within these areas have been identified where possible to enhance the versatility of the sample. As mentioned above, SMSA's or county components of SMSA's over 250,000 population are identified. In a few cases a pair of adjacent SMSA's not otherwise identified are combined to form a county group subarea. Other subareas identified may approximate areas of analytical interest or may simply be the residual of an area, appropriate for analysis only in combination with other areas.
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Since SMSA's and other economically or socially-related areas are not necessarily limited by political boundaries, county group areas and subareas cross State lines frequently.