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.