Suburban vs. Urban Growth in US Metros





Now that we have the full set of 2017 population estimates, I wanted to examine a popular claim a little more closely. The claim is that suburban growth far exceeds that of core cities/counties, and it’s often repeated in media throughout the country. One of the things that always bothered me about this was the constant use of basing this claim largely on % change. This has a major flaw, one that I will go into more below.

For this little study, I will look at the top 50 largest metro areas.

First, let’s look at the total change in the whole metro area, the core county and the core city between the 2010 Census and July 1, 2017. They will be ranked here by total metro change.
1. Dallas, TX: +973,431
2. Houston, TX: +971,941
3. New York, NY: +754,396
4. Atlanta, GA: +597,993
5. Miami, FL: +592,525
6. Washington, DC: +580,228
7. Phoenix, AZ: +544,141
8. Los Angeles, CA: +524,946
9. Seattle, WA: +427,240
10. Austin, TX: +399,507
11. San Francisco, Ca: +391,784
12. Orlando, FL: +375,432
13. Riverside, CA: +355,705
14. Denver, CO: +344,635
15. San Antonio, TX: +331,458
16. Charlotte, NC: +308,313
17. Tampa, FL: +307,930
18. Boston, MA: +283,935
19. Las Vegas, NV: +252,810
20. Minneapolis, MN: +251,760
21. San Diego, CA: +242,343
22. Nashville, TN: +232,162
23. Portland, OR: +227,167
24. Raleigh, NC: +204,590
25. Columbus: +176,724
26. Sacramento, CA: +175,740
27. San Jose, CA: +161,523
28. Jacksonville, FL: +159,382
29. Indianapolis, IN: +140,524
30. Oklahoma City, OK: +130,746
31. Philadelphia, PA: +130,427
32. Kansas City, MO: +119,574
33. Salt Lake City, UT: +115,297
34. Baltimore, MD: +97,572
35. Richmond, VA: +86,117
36. New Orleans, LA: +85,903
37. Chicago: +71,499
38. Cincinnati: +64,396
39. Louisville, KY: +58,247
40. Virginia Beach, VA: +48,429
41. Memphis, TN: +23,433
42. Birmingham, AL: +21,751
43. Milwaukee, WI: +20,282
44. Providence, RI: +19,912
45. St. Louis, MO: +19,575
46. Detroit: +16,685
47. Buffalo, NY: +1,239
48. Hartford, CT: -2,139
49. Cleveland: -18,427
50. Pittsburgh, PA: -22,924

Now that we have the total growth, let’s break it down a bit more.

How much of the total metro change occurred in the core county of each metro? This will be ranked by the highest to lowest % occurring in the core county.

Core County Change—————-Core County % of Total Metro
1. Las Vegas: +252,810———————-100.00%
2. San Diego: +242,343———————-100.00%
3. San Jose: +161,523**———————100.00%
4. Buffalo: +6,488——————————100.00%
5. Salt Lake City: +105,994——————91.93%
6. Phoenix: +489,916————————–90.03%
7. Raleigh: +171,210————————–83.68%
8. San Antonio: +243,805——————–73.56%
9. Columbus: +128,567———————–72.75%
10. Los Angeles: +344,902——————65.70%
11. Sacramento: +111,827——————63.63%
12. Seattle: +257,400————————-60.25%
13. New York: +447,565*——————–59.33%
14. Tampa: +179,340————————-58.24%
15. Houston: +560,521———————–57.67%
16. New Orleans: +49,463——————-57.58%
17. Jacksonville: +88,902——————–55.78%
18. Riverside: +198,100———————-55.69%
19. Providence: +10,870———————54.59%
20. Orlando: +203,019————————54.08%
21. Oklahoma City: +69,325—————-53.02%
22. Louisville: +30,052———————–51.59%
23. Charlotte: +157,209———————50.99%
24. Austin: +202,432————————-50.67%
25. Miami: +255,361————————-43.10%
26. Memphis: +9,317————————39.76%
27. Minneapolis: +99,599——————-39.56%
28. Indianapolis: +46,689——————33.22%
29. Philadelphia: +41,866——————32.10%
30. Portland: +72,221———————–31.79%
31. Denver: +104,463**———————30.31%
32. Nashville: +64,663———————-27.85%
33. Boston: +75,916————————-26.74%
34. Richmond: +22,818**——————26.50%
35. Virginia Beach: +12,441**————25.69%
36. Dallas: +250,009————————25.68%
37. Chicago: +16,588———————–23.20%
38. Milwaukee: +4,350———————21.45%
39. Kansas City: +24,737—————–20.69%
40. Atlanta: +120,843———————-20.21%
41. San Francisco: +79,128**————20.20%
42. Cincinnati: +11,448——————–17.78%
43. Washington, DC: +92,249**———15.90%
44. Birmingham: +731———————-3.36%
45. Hartford: +1,374————————-0.0%
46. Baltimore: -9,313**———————-0.0%
47. St. Louis: -10,668**———————0.0%
48. Detroit: -66,968————————–0.0%
49. Pittsburgh: -300———————– -1.31%
50. Cleveland: -31,608——————- -100.00%

*New York includes all 5 main boroughs, so it is different than core county, but still represents the urban center of the metro area.
**Core County and City are consolidated, or city exists as separate entity.

Going down even further, let’s compare the core city to the total metro, again ranked by %.

Core City Change————————Core City % of Total Metro
1. New York: +447,565————————-59.33%
2. New Orleans: +49,463———————–57.58%
3. San Antonio: +184,539———————-55.67%
4. San Jose: +89,375—————————55.33%
5. Columbus: +92,137————————–52.14%
6. Oklahoma City: +63,649——————–48.68%
7. San Diego: +112,114————————46.26%
8. Jacksonville: +70,278———————–44.09%
9. Philadelphia: +54,857———————–42.06%
10. Charlotte: +127,611————————41.39%
11. Louisville: +24,012————————-41.22%
12. Austin: +160,325—————————40.13%
13. Los Angeles: +207,138——————-39.46%
14. Las Vegas: +64,468———————–36.68%
15. Phoenix: +180,446————————-33.16%
16. Raleigh: +65,098—————————31.82%
17. Denver: +104,463————————–30.31%
18. Indianapolis: +42,557———————30.28%
19. Chicago: +20,852————————–29.16%
20. Portland: +64,029————————–28.19%
21. Nashville: +64,562————————-27.81%
22. Seattle: +116,085————————–27.17%
23. Richmond: +22,818**———————26.50%
24. Virginia Beach: +12,441**—————25.69%
25. Kansas City: +29,156———————24.38%
26. Boston: +67,500—————————23.77%
27. Memphis: +5,347————————–22.82%
28. Houston: +212,454————————21.86%
29. San Francisco**: +79,128—————20.20%
30. Sacramento: +35,413———————20.15%
31. Minneapolis: +41,412———————16.45%
32. Tampa: +49,721—————————-16.15%
33. Washington, DC: +92,249**————-15.90%
34. Dallas: +143,259—————————14.72%
35. Salt Lake City: +14,104——————-12.23%
36. Providence: +2,351————————11.81%
37. Orlando: +41,957—————————11.18%
38. Atlanta: +66,287—————————-11.08%
39. Miami: +54,122——————————9.13%
40. Cincinnati: +4,356————————–6.76%
41. Riverside: +23,857————————-6.71%
42. Milwaukee: +518—————————2.55%
43. Birmingham: -1,527———————–0.0%
44. Buffalo: -5,218——————————0.0%
45. Baltimore: -9,313**————————0.0%
46. St. Louis: -10,668**———————–0.0%
47. Detroit: -40,673—————————-0.0%
48. Pittsburgh: -3,297———————– -14.38%
49. Cleveland: -10,889——————— -59.09%
50. Hartford: -1,375————————- -64.28%

*Again, I used the 5 boroughs of New York here, so the numbers don’t change.
**See above.

Finally, because core counties and cities can be absolutely huge, like in Phoenix, I wanted to take see the ratio of people moving vs. the area size. To do this, I divided the growth by the land area of each core county and city.

So basically, how many people moved there per each square mile.

Core County Ratio——————————-Core City Ratio
1. San Francisco: 1,687.52————————-1,687.52
2. Washington, DC: 1,511.04———————-1,511.04
3. New York: 1,475.51——————————-1,475.51
4. Boston: 1,308.90———————————–1,394.05
5. Denver: 681.30————————————–681.30
6. Richmond: 379.67———————————-379.67
7. Houston: 329.14————————————354.33
8. Philadelphia: 312.43——————————-408.83
9. Charlotte: 300.02———————————–428.66
10. New Orleans: 291.95—————————-291.95
11. Dallas: 286.38————————————-420.73
12. Columbus: 241.67——————————-424.26
13. Atlanta: 229.30———————————–497.65
14. Orlando: 224.83———————————-398.75
15. Raleigh: 205.04———————————-455.87
16. Austin: 204.48————————————538.18
17. San Antonio: 196.62—————————-400.36
18. Minneapolis: 179.78—————————–754.32
19. Tampa: 175.82————————————438.38
20. Portland: 167.57———————————-481.42
21. Salt Lake City: 142.85—————————129.28
22. Miami: 134.54————————————-1,503.81
23. Nashville: 128.30———————————128.01
24. San Jose: 125.21———————————503.49
25. Seattle: 121.64————————————1,384.11
26. Indianapolis: 117.81——————————117.72
27. Jacksonville: 116.67——————————94.02
28. Sacramento: 115.88——————————361.65
29. Oklahoma City: 97.78—————————-105.89
30. Los Angeles: 84.99——————————-441.90
31. Louisville: 79.08———————————–63.11
32. San Diego: 57.84———————————344.76
33. Phoenix: 53.25————————————348.59
34. Virginia Beach: 49.96—————————-49.96
35. Kansas City: 40.96——————————-92.57
36. Las Vegas: 32.04———————————474.73
37. Cincinnati: 28.20———————————-55.89
38. Riverside: 27.49———————————–293.70
39. Providence: 26.51——————————–127.08
40. Milwaukee: 18.05———————————5.39
41. Chicago: 17.5————————————–91.72
42. Memphis: 12.21———————————–16.97
43. Buffalo: 6.22————————————– -128.52
44. Harford: 1.87————————————- -79.02
45. Birmingham: 0.66——————————- -10.46
46. Pittsburgh: -0.41——————————— -59.53
47. Cleveland: -69.16——————————- -140.14
48. Detroit: -109.42———————————- -293.14
49. Baltimore: -115.12—————————— -115.12
50. St. Louis: -172.34——————————- -172.34

So what’s all this mean? Columbus performs particularly well here. Franklin County attracts a high percentage of the total metro population, and Columbus itself is one of only 5 cities with more than 50% of the metro growth entering the city limits. Even accounting for area size, Columbus does fairly well. This suggests that urban growth there is stronger than in most cities.



Exurbia in the Columbus Metro




Exurbia in the Columbus metro

I hear all the time how Columbus is extremely suburban (low density) in its development. But where does it actually rank with its peers? One metric is looking at exurbia, the far outer suburban areas that are largely made up of sprawl. How does exurbia in the Columbus metro compare to other places?

I looked at metros of similar size to Columbus (1.5-2.5 million).

Metro Population Living in Exurbia, 2000
1. Nashville, TN: 23.1%
2. Austin, TX: 21.8%
3. Charlotte, NC: 16.7%
4. Orlando, FL: 14.7%
5. San Antonio, TX: 12.6%
6. Indianapolis, IN: 10.5%
7. Kansas City, KS: 9.0%
8. Cincinnati: 6.7%
9. Virginia Beach: 6.0%
10. Portland, OR: 5.8%
11. Columbus: 4.9%
12. Sacramento, CA: 4.1%
13. Las Vegas, NV: 3.1%
14. Providence, RI: 2.9%
15. Milwaukee, WI: 2.8%
16. San Jose, CA: 1.1%
17. Cleveland: 1.0%
18. Pittsburgh, PA: 0.8%

Metro Population Living in Exurbia, 2010
1. Austin, TX: 32.3%
2. Nashville, TN: 27.9%
3. Charlotte, NC: 22.7%
4. Orlando, FL: 21.7%
5. San Antonio, TX: 20.3%
6. Indianapolis: 15.8%
7. Kansas City, KS: 14.4%
8. Las Vegas, NV: 10.6%
9. Cincinnati: 8.8%
10. Columbus: 7.7%
11. Sacramento, CA: 7.7%
12. Virginia Beach, VA: 7.4%
13. Portland, OR: 6.7%
14. Milwaukee, WI: 3.3%
15. Providence, RI: 3.2%
16. Cleveland: 1.7%
17. Pittsburgh, PA: 1.1%
18. San Jose, CA: 1.1%

Metro Population Living in Exurbia Total % Change 2000-2010
1. Las Vegas, NV: +389.9%
2. Sacramento, CA: +123.5%
3. Austin, TX: +103.8%
4. San Antonio, TX: +101.6%
5. Orlando, FL: +92.0%
6. Charlotte, NC: +82.5%
7. Columbus: +78.4%
8. Kansas City, KS: +75.6%
9. Indianapolis, IN: +72.9%
10. Cleveland: +58.3%
11. Nashville, TN: +46.4%
12. Cincinnati: +38.7%
13. Portland, OR: +33.5%
14. Virginia Beach, VA: +31.2%
15. Pittsburgh, PA: +28.0%
16. Milwaukee, WI: +20.8%
17. Providence, RI: +10.3%
18. San Jose, CA: +9.0%

So what these numbers show is that Columbus is actually in the bottom half of exurban population vs. its 17 peers, but is in the top half of growth in that population. As can be imagined, a large part of this growth came before the recession.

Metro Exurban Population Growth 2000-2007
1. Las Vegas, NV: +285.2%
2. Sacramento, CA: +104.2%
3. Orlando, FL: +78.3%
4. Austin, TX: +74.2%
5. Columbus: +62.0%
6. Charlotte, NC: +58.4%
7. San Antonio, TX: +56.2%
8. Kansas City, KS: +55.4%
9. Indianapolis, IN: +46.4%
10. Nashville, TN: +30.6%
11. Portland, OR: +29.1%
12. Cleveland: +27.0%
13. Cincinnati: +26.2%
14. Virginia Beach, VA: +25.7%
15. Pittsburgh, PA: +16.5%
16. Milwaukee, WI: +13.3%
17. Providence, RI: +10.9%
18. San Jose, CA: +5.9%

Metro Exurban Population Growth 2007-2010
1. San Antonio, TX: +29.1%
2. Las Vegas, NV: +27.2%
3. Cleveland: +24.7%
4. Indianapolis, IN: +18.0%
5. Austin, TX: +17.0%
6. Charlotte, NC: +15.3%
7. Kansas City, KS: +13.7%
8. Nashville, TN: +12.1%
9. Columbus: +10.1%
10. Cincinnati: +9.9%
11. Pittsburgh, PA: +9.8%
12. Sacramento, CA: +9.5%
13. Orlando, FL: +7.7%
14. Milwaukee, WI: +6.7%
15. Virginia Beach, VA: +4.3%
16. Portland, OR: +3.3%
17. San Jose, CA: +2.9%
18. Providence, RI: -0.6%

Average Annual Rate Change Between 2000-2007 and 2007-2010
1. Cleveland: +117.1%
2. Pittsburgh, PA: +45.5%
3. San Antonio, TX: +34.8%
4. San Jose, CA: +25.0%
5. Milwaukee, WI: +22.2%
6. Indianapolis, IN: +1.8%
7. Nashville, TN: +0.0%
8. Cincinnati: -5.9%
9. Charlotte, NC: -29.4%
10. Kansas City, KS: -32.3%
11. Austin, TX: -34.1%
12. Columbus: -53.5%
13. Virginia Beach, VA: -57.6%
14. Las Vegas, NV: -60.8%
15. Portland, OR: -70.3%
16. Orlando, FL: -70.9%
17. Sacramento, CA: -71.0%
18. Providence, RI: -113.3%

So there you have it. Columbus is definitely not anywhere near the sprawl king it’s often made out to be, even within its own peer group. Outside of it, there are dozens of metros with far more.