Investigation of Administrative Factors Relating to the Expansion of Planning Operations from a Single-County Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area (Nashville-Davidson County) to a Multi-County Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area

Introduction: Census data collected for the past 170 years reveals, with few exceptions, a continuous trend towards increased urbanization in the United States. Urban population surpassed rural population around 1920. During the past two decades population shifts from rural to urban have increased at an accelerated rate. This is true in Tennessee as well as the rest of the nation. According to the 1960 United States Census, the population of Tennessee was 3,567,089 persons. Of this total, 45 percent lived in or around four metropolitan centers-- Chattanooga, Knoxville, Memphis, and Nashville.