100 Largest U.S. Urbanized Areas ranked
by square miles of sprawl (1970-1990)
(click here to view this table in alphabetical order)
 
Urbanized Area
  (ranked by amount of sprawl)
Square Miles of Sprawl
 (growth in land area)
1. Atlanta, GA 701.7
2. Houston, TX 638.7
3. New York City-N.E. New Jersey 541.3
4. Washington, DC-MD-VA 450.1
5. Philadelphia, PA 412.4
6. Los Angeles, CA 393.8
7. Dallas-Fort Worth, TX 372.4
8. Tampa-St.Petersburg-Clearwater, FL 358.7
9. Phoenix, AZ 353.6
10. Minneapolis-Saint Paul, MN 341.6
11. San Diego, CA 309.5
12. Oklahoma City, OK 307.7
13. Chicago, IL - N.W. Indiana 307.3
14. Baltimore, MD 282.9
15. Kansas City, MO-KS 268.6
16. Saint Louis, MO-IL 267.6
17. Orlando, FL 262.9
18. Detroit, MI 247.4
19. Boston, MA 226.8
20. Norfolk-Virginia Beach-Newport News, VA 221.4
21. San Antonio, TX 215.1
22. San Francisco-Oakland, CA 193.1
23. Austin, TX 187.4
24. Pittsburgh, PA 181.7
25. Cincinnati, OH-KY 176.6
26. Seattle, WA 174.8
27. Birmingham, AL 174.2
28. West Palm Beach-Boca Raton, FL 170.2
29. Denver, CO 166.0
30. Richmond, VA 158.1
31. Jacksonville, FL 156.4
32. Charleston, SC 151.7
33. Riverside-San Bernardino, CA 150.4
34. Memphis, TN 145.5
35. Jackson, MS 144.7
36. Tucson, AZ 141.8
37. Chattanooga, TN-GA 140.1
38. Nashville, TN 140.0
39. Charlotte, NC 136.0
40. Knoxville, TN 132.7
41. Tulsa, OK 124.3
42. Portland-Vancouver, OR-WA 121.2
43. Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood-Pompano, FL 114.9
44. Albuquerque, NM 111.4
45. Hartford-Middletown, CT 110.8
46. Columbus, OH 110.4
47. Las Vegas, NV 109.9
48. Raleigh, NC 105.4
49. Tacoma, WA 104.1
50. Little Rock-North Little Rock, AR 103.9
51. El Paso, TX-NM 101.0
52. Baton Rouge, LA 100.9
53. Columbia, SC 95.6
54. Miami-Hialeah, FL 94.0
55. Ogden, UT 91.9
56. McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX 91.6
57. Sacramento, CA 89.7
58. Pensacola, FL 88.9
59. Indianapolis, IN 87.7
60. Colorado Springs, CO 86.6
61. New Orleans, LA 86.1
62. New Haven-Meriden, CT 80.4
63. Wilmington, DE-NJ-MS-PA 78.0
64. Greenville, SC 77.2
65. Grand Rapids, MI 77.0
66. Rochester, NY 74.3
67. Louisville, KY-IN 72.2
68. Buffalo-Niagara Falls, NY 71.8
69. Harrisburg, PA 71.4
70. Salt Lake City, UT 69.8
71. Flint, MI 67.4
72. Springfield, MA-CT 64.1
73. San Jose, CA 61.2
74. Mobile, AL 60.5
75. Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY 58.2
76. Milwaukee, WI 55.5
77. Providence-Pawtucket, RI-MA 54.6
78. Worcester, MA-CT 54.3
79. Akron, OH 53.6
80. Fresno, CA 53.6
81. Shreveport, LA 52.2
82. Des Moines, IA 50.6
83. Dayton, OH 49.2
84. Oxnard-Ventura, CA 45.6
85. Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA 43.6
86. Omaha, NE-IA 41.8
87. Bakersfield, CA 41.1
88. Wichita, KS 39.4
89. Youngstown-Warren, OH 38.7
90. Syracuse, NY 37.4
91. Spokane, WA 35.8
92. Trenton, NJ-PA 30.4
93. Toledo, OH-MI 27.9
94. Stockton, CA 27.0
95. Lansing-East Lansing, MI 25.3
96. Corpus Christi, TX 25.2
97. Honolulu, HI 23.7
98. Scranton-Wilkes-Barre, PA 20.4
99. Bridgeport-Milford, CT 11.9
100. Cleveland, OH - 10.2
Total 14,545.2
Average Urbanized Area
(mean of values in column)
145.5
* Land Area Data derived from U.S. Census Bureau’s 1970 and 1990 reports on Urbanized Land Area.

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Over a 20-year period, the 100 largest Urbanized Areas sprawled out over an additional 14,545 square miles. That was more than 9 million acres of natural habitats, farmland and other rural space that were covered over by the asphalt, buildings and sub-divisions of suburbia. And that was just for the half of Americans who live in those 100 cities.


What is sprawl?

What is an Urbanized Area?

What is the difference between an Urbanized Area and a Metropolitan Statistical Area?

Why is the period 1970-90 used?

Are Urbanized Areas useful as measuring tools?

How does sprawl threaten the environment and farmland?




































































































































 



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