{
    my (%country, %state, %msaname);

sub do_msalist {

    my @msakeys = @_;

    foreach(sort by_americentric @msakeys) { 
        #...
    }

}

sub by_americentric {
    $country{$b} cmp $country{$a}
    or
        $state{$a} cmp $state{$b}
    or
        $msaname{$a} cmp $msaname{$b}
    or
        $a <=> $b;
}

}


##</code><code>##

sub do_msalist {

    my @msakeys = @_;

    foreach(sort {
    $country{$b} cmp $country{$a}
    or
        $state{$a} cmp $state{$b}
    or
        $msaname{$a} cmp $msaname{$b}
    or
        $a <=> $b;
} @msakeys) { 
        #...
    }

}