HELP - Absurd project on a deadline!

[sqlcasey]

Hi,

I have been tasked with a very aggravating project.

Someone from our headquarters wants a report of how many customers per "Metropolitation Statistical Area" (MSA) we have in our database. See

http://www.census.gov/population/estimates/metro_general/List4.txt

for the complete list of MSA's.

Problem is, each MSA only lists one, two or three cites per area. For example, "Boston-Cambridge-Quincy". Which leaves out EVERY other city in that area, such as Roxbury, etc.

So, doing a search by city is impossible. It would miss a lot of customers whose cities aren't listed in a given MSA.

Alternatively, I could use the first few digits of the zip codes. For example, Boston zip codes start with 021 or 022. That would capture all other cities within that area, I'm thinking.

However, the MSA website does not have any zip codes listed. Nor do I have any assurance that my method listed above will yield the correct results.

And futhermore, I am the one who has to find these stupid zip codes... seems like it's going to be very stupid, long day having to look up these zip codes.

Please, please please someone tell me there is a listing of zip codes per MSA... or has ANYONE had to do a similar project - and can give me some advice?

Help. My boss thinks this information is going to be "easy" to find, so far I have not found this to be the case at all.

THANKS

 

[SQLSister]

I know that data is available, we have it in our database. Not sure the source though. Try the post Office for a datalisting of zipcdes by MSA

Questions about posting. See faq183-874

 

[avanderlaan]

Google reveals a number of commercial databases available for download at seemingly reasonable prices (~$60 US). I noticed that MSA's were replaced by CBSA's by 2003. These codes seem to be somewhat dynamic -- are you planning on refreshing them periodically?

 

[sqlcasey]

Yes, I've discovered that purchasing a product is the way to go.