The boundaries of core based statistical areas are defined using\u00a0commuter flows<\/a>. There are two main ways for a place to be part of a CBSA. One way is to be a commuter hub\u2013a principal city\u2013drawing in workers from the rest of the region. In an MSA with multiple principal cities, each will act as an interconnected hub, with large numbers of workers commuting each direction every day. As\u00a0I wrote<\/a>\u00a0in 2017, \u201cMilwaukee city attracts the most workers\u2014some 125,000 in total. Still, nearly 95,000 people leave the city for work every day. Thirty-thousand of them go to Waukesha county, while 30,000 in Waukesha commute to the city of Milwaukee. The net-worker balance between Milwaukee city and Waukesha county is virtually equal.\u201d The other way for an area to be part of a CBSA is as a commuter suburb. Some places attract very few outside workers, but provide a large number of employees for other towns. Muskego in Waukesha county is a good example. Eighty-five percent of its workers commute somewhere else, and the town\u2019s population shrinks by about 30% during the workday.<\/p>\n Given this criteria, Racine County is in an odd situation. Like Waukesha, it has a principal city of its own. Reflecting this, about two-thirds of workers from Racine and Waukesha counties alike commute to work within their county of residence. This is much more than Washington or Ozaukee counties where just half of commuters work in their county of residence. Again like Waukesha county, Racine county does send more than a few workers to the Milwaukee metro. Seventeen percent go to Milwaukee county and 6 percent to Waukesha. But this relationship is not reciprocal. Just 1 percent of Milwaukee county workers commute to Racine, compared to 14 percent going to Waukesha. Waukesha sends 28 percent of its workers to Milwaukee but just 1 percent to Racine.<\/p>\n Racine County has a one-way commuter relationship with the Milwaukee metro area. The City of Racine is a commuter hub locally, but its pull does not reach far. Thirteen Milwaukee county workers commute west to Waukesha county for every 1 who travels south to Racine County.<\/p>\n Racine doesn\u2019t do much better with its southern neighbor Kenosha county, either. Kenosha county is classified as part of the Chicago MSA. About 27 percent of its workers travel to Illinois compared to just 11 percent who work in Racine.<\/p>\n The boundaries of metropolitan statistical areas are intended to describe reality, not shape it. In the future, Racine\u2019s economy may become intertwined with Milwaukee\u2019s in the same way that Milwaukee and Waukesha have grown into a single economic unit. The Foxconn project could be the catalyst needed to make this shift (if it is ever completed). In the meantime, however, Racine remains a close cousin, if not a sibling member of the Milwaukee Metro.<\/p>\nFew workers commute from Milwaukee or Waukesha to Racine<\/h2>\n
![\"graphs](\"http:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/CountyPlots-630x1024.png\")
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