Whenever Larry Reichard tries to woo a business to Mercer County he always gives prospects information about the county generated by the U.S. Census Bureau.

That's easy to do now because the county is a metropolitan statistical area, officially called the Sharon MSA because Sharon is the county's largest city.

"The way it is now it's clean and simple and breaks down the information relating to Mercer County,'' Reichard said.

An area having its own MSA carries a certain cache as it creates a higher profile. More detailed information is available on Mercer County than Lawrence and Venango county in large part because those two county's don't have their own MSA.

Without the MSA designation getting information on the county would be far more difficult. Likewise, with the county having its own MSA securing federal funds for highways projects is easier because specific demographic information is readily available.

Last week the Mercer County Regional Council of Governments said the Census Bureau has merged the county's MSA with Youngstown's.

But that's not what happened -- at least not yet -- said Denny Puko, executive director of the Mercer County Regional Planning Commission.

What actually occurred was the Census Bureau merged the county's urbanized designation with Youngstown's he said. Still, that's significant because the classification, which looks at such things as population density, is used to determine if an area should have its own MSA.

"I'm not sure if this means we'll lose our MSA,'' Puko said. "The Census Bureau is only giving us a 'what if' scenario.''

Under a complicated formula an area could qualify as an MSA if a county's population is more than 100,000 and it has an urbanized area of at least 50,000. While the county's population in the 2000 Census was more than 120,000 it's the urbanized area that's been called into question.

In 1990 the Census Bureau's formula showed the Shenango Valley's population was just enough to meet the 50,000 level.

"I haven't seen the 2000 census but I believe we fell below 50,000,'' Puko said. "But the Census Bureau said that was enough to rationalize linking our urbanized area to the Youngstown area.''

The federal Office of Management and Budget grants an MSA designation by working hand-in-hand with the Census Bureau.

"Are we going to lose our MSA because our urbanized designation was merged with Youngstown? I can't say,'' Puko said. "But the person I talked to at the Census Bureau said it was a strong likelihood.''

Puko said a meeting of local officials will likely be held in the upcoming weeks to figure out if something can be done to keep the local MSA intact.

Indications are Mercer County would be moved into Youngstown's MSA, he added.

If so that could have far-reaching implications as publications and Internet sites regularly compare the nation's more than 300 MSAs for places to live or work.

Sperling's BestPlaces Internet site uses MSAs in part to form a number of criteria from climate, health and housings costs to culture in helping users decide where they may want to live. In each of the categories users checkoff how important a certain feature is to them. When giving low housing costs and crime rates as the most important features and ignoring all others Sharon MSA is ranked fifth in the nation whereas Youngstown isn't in the top 50.