Where Do We Live - Urbanization And Density

As we crowd into metro areas, are we getting more crowded? It seems that we are. The graphic shows population distribution by the urban, suburban, and nonmetropolitan categories for the more recent 40 years along with population density, measured as the number of people per square mile of land areas (bodies of water, including rivers, are excluded).

In 1960 the national density was 51 persons per square mile; by 2000 this value was up to 80 people. We need not be alarmed. In India, the density is more than a hundred times greater (897) and it is three-and-a-half times higher in France (283) — a romantic tourist destination.²

In our metropolitan areas, density increased from 194 people per square mile to 320 in 2000. The 2000 value provides a half an acre for each child, woman, and man — which seems a generous amount of space, even after streets, schools, churches, offices, hotels, ball fields, and factories are deducted. Averages, of course, are just that. Most core cities have substantially higher density. The population density of New York City is 26,402, Los Angeles is 7,877, and Houston is 3,372. Overseas, metropolitan density in some locations is even greater. To give an example, Hong Kong, one of the world's denser places, has a density of 18,883 people per square mile of territory.

Rising densities signal that more people are settling into the same areas or that the bounds of metropolitan settlement are not expanding as fast as the population (sprawl). This is supported by patterns of population increase. The fastest growing groups are those with the lowest median family incomes, the Hispanic population and African Americans — populations with high density of settlement (see Chapter 4 - Ethnicity & Immigration).

Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census. Statistical Abstract of the United States, 2001. 121^st ed. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2001. Data on suburbs are from the SOCDS database, distributed by U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Online. Available: www.socds.huduser.org/index.html.