The Kansas City MSA (Metropolitan
Statistical Area) is an area standardized by U.S. government agencies for purposes of
statistical measurement and report. Lying across the Missouri-Kansas state line, it is
comprised of seven counties in Missouri and four in Kansas. Centrally located on the continent, with access to upstream commercial navigation of the Missouri and Kansas (or Kaw) River basins, controlling river traffic downstream to the confluence of the Missouri and the Mississippi at St. Louis, and consequently developed as a major freight railhead, Kansas City grew up as the nation’s western port on the Great Plains of North America.
Industrial development has made Kansas City the nation’s 25th largest metropolitan area in terms both of population and of employment. CEI’s Kansas City MetroEconomy web site is designed to provide network access to detailed demographic and economic data for the area, conveniently summarized for a variety of local geographic entities, including the MSA, county, incorporated place (
cities, etc.), census block groups and tracts, local
voting districts, school districts, and neighborhoods. Geographic images and their associated databases are produced and maintained with Atlas GIS, a geographic information mapping, analysis, and display software application.