State / MSA Ranking Chart 

The State / MSA Ranking Chart below includes the largest 33 MSA’s and the 50 States in descending order. The reason the top thirty three MSA’s have been selected for Senate inclusion under the reform and realignment effort is for political expediency.  Thirty three represents the optimal number of MSA’s that could conceivably be approved in a Constitutional Amendment.  A smaller number of MSA's would not have the remotest possibility of passing because they would not be supported on the national stage.  Likewise, a larger number of MSA's would garner wider political support; but, unfortunately would also dilute the political quality of the MSA’s. It would be hard to justify the need for political acceptance for the lower echelon MSA’s.  Therefore, the optimal number for political support is thirty three and that number represents the sweet spot for political acceptance and passage of a Constitutional Amendment.  In addition, 33 represents one third of the existing U.S. Senate and would add enough imbalance and disruption to the U.S. Senate to keep the urban coalition at the center of any national debate. This new urban coalition would mark the beginning of a new era in American politics.

There are 14 states with populations of less 2 million inhabitants and the 28 Senators that represent these states may or may not have the best interest in mind of supporting the majority 85% urban population. The least populated states in ascending order are: Wyoming, Vermont, Alaska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Delaware, Montana, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Main, Hawaii, Idaho, West Virginia, and Nebraska. Wyoming, the least populated state has a population of 584,000 inhabitants and the State of California has a population of 38,802,000 and both have two senators each. By what stretch of the imagination, can this be an equitable solution to U.S. Senate representation. Even though the larger states, such as California, Texas and Ohio are adequately represented in the House of Representatives they are woefully underrepresented in the Senate.

Since 1789, differences in population between states have become more pronounced. At the time of the Grand Compromise, the largest state, Virginia, had only twelve times the population of the smallest state, Delaware.  Today, the largest state, California has a population that is seventy times greater than the population of the smallest state, Wyoming.  In 1790, it would take a theoretical 30% of the population to elect a majority of the Senate, today it would take 17%. Today, there are seven states with only one congressman Alaska, Delaware, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming.  Never in the past has there been as high a proportion of one-congressman states.

The MSA’s listed below include only the 33 largest macro sized MSA’s. By its very nature, the list is malleable, since it is inevitable that some MSA’s will rise in the rankings and some will fall based on either a growth or decline in their populations and/or a merger with another MSA which may improve the fortunes of both MSA’s since both would become more influential and powerful. Likewise there will be other MSA’s that will stagnate and wither away and drop down the pecking order on the list or drop from the list entirely. This dynamic fluidity to the list and changing potential of who will be on the list only adds to the credibility of the top 33 MSA’s.