How big is Sacramento?
I was trying to figure this out a week or two ago and now it’s come up again in a reference to Sacramento being a “top-20 media market”. Sacramento is the 26th largest Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) (see also CSAs and CBSAs). It’s also the 37th largest city in the US.
This “media market” or Designated Market Area (DMA), defined by Nielsen Media Research rather than the US Census Bureau, is yet another way to measure the Sacramento area’s influence. It’s defined as an area where everyone can receive common television and radio station programing. While it was once #18, it looks like it’s slipped to #20.