Pine Bluff micropolitan area
The Pine Bluff Micropolitan Statistical Area, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, is a two-county region in Southeast Arkansas, anchored by the city of Pine Bluff. As of 2023, the total population was estimated at 71,039. It is also a component of the larger Central Arkansas region which had an estimated 913,536 people in 2023.
History
The Pine Bluff region had long been a metropolitan statistical area. As of the 2010 census, the MSA had a population of 100,258. The metro area's population declined by 12.47% between 2010 and 2020, more than any other metropolitan area in the United States. At the 2020 Census, the Pine Bluff MSA definition included Jefferson, Cleveland, and Lincoln counties.A proposal by the Office of Management and Budget to increase the threshold for a metropolitan statistical area from 50,000 in population to 100,000 threatened Pine Bluff's status as a metropolitan area in 2021. It was announced this effort had been rebuffed by a group of members of Congress a few months later. However, on July 21, 2023, the OMB redefined the United States statistical areas, including Arkansas statistical areas, which demoted Pine Bluff to a micropolitan area.