I see this stat come up from time to time in HN discussions but what is sometimes lost is that what the census considers “urban” is pretty far from common parlance usage of the term. According to the census, to not be “rural” you only need a population above 2,500.[1] Having lived in communities this small, long commutes can be a fairly regular part of life. I would venture to say most people would consider much of the “urban” dwellers by census standards live quite a “rural” life.
The census definition of "urban" is kind of absurd. If I'm reading it right, living in a town of 2500 is "urban." If I'm reading it wrong, living in a town of 50,000 is "urban." Either way, you'd likely consider a lot of that 80% rural.
82% of Americans do not live in cities. Rather, they live in areas classified as urban (which really means not rural) by the census bureau. Here's the definition: "To qualify as an urban area, the territory identified according to criteria must encompass at least 2,500 people, at least 1,500 of which reside outside institutional group quarters."
Yes, I'm guessing that many of those urban areas are within half an hour of a freeway--though this may be less true in the West. But the vast majority of those 82% don't live in places that are remotely walkable.
The Census Bureau’s “urban” is “not rural.” Most people live in metro areas, but in suburban and exurban parts of those metro areas without the density to make public transit good enough to rely on.
I found that intriguing, so I looked into it a bit.
The census defines 3 population area groups, urban areas (+50k), urban clusters (2.5k-50k), and rural (-2.5k).
If you combine urban clusters and rural that’s still only 28% of the population, and you’ll be including a lot of people who don’t consider life very rural.
That's actually only true if you count all towns bigger than 2500 people as "urban". That's really not very consistent with what most people think of as "urban" vs "rural". I live in a town of 26,000 people that is very much rural culturally and economically.
That's not really rural. Rural is specifically defined as the areas outside towns and cities. The fact that you don't live in a metropolis doesn't mean you live in a rural area.
In the US, a population density greater than 999/sq mile is urban.
The definition of urbanized areas in the census is not what most of us would say "all of that is city living".
> To qualify as an urban area, the territory identified according to criteria must encompass at least 2,000 housing units or have a population of at least 5,000.
According to the census, I'm in an urban area. And it is true, I can walk to a grocery store, but there will likely not be much transit here at all, since the population total is about 8000.
There is some fast and loose with "urban" and "rural" - most people consider New York to be Urban, Los Angeles to be Urban, and anywhere outside of the suburbs to be rural - but the census counts anything as urban that is "populated": To qualify as an urban area, the territory identified according to criteria must encompass at least 2,000 housing units or have a population of at least 5,000.
Many people would consider small towns "rural" but if the town is small enough, it can be an entirely "walkable" "urban" area - because there's a walmart, a gas station, and a hospital, all in a town that is less than a mile across.
I'm actually not rural by the US Census definition. And probably not especially close even though I and a couple neighbors are on 100 acres between us. I live in a 7K person town and it's not even remotely rural by US Census definitions.
In fact the US census definition is even wider than that for urban. My town's a good example. It's essentially a 7K population rural town; I'm in the middle of about 100 acres with a couple neighbors. But I'm fairly near a major city and I'm solidly urban per the census.
It's complicated to determine what's urban and suburban--much less exurban (which is what ESRI calls where I live). [1] But the census uses a measure where the areas it counts as "rural" are mostly very rural.
Rural is simply defined as "not urban". Urban is defined as a cluster of at least 5,000 people in sufficient density. I don't know exactly what the density is. But I believe anything you would recognize as a small town is dense enough. So if there are 5,000+ people in your town you are urban.
That census definition of urban/rural is different from the colloquial definition. The census link allows an "urban" classification as low as 2,500 people.
Colloquially-defined rural areas have been decimated by globalization in the last 40 years. The "rural" area I grew up in had thousands of manufacturing jobs; now it may have 200. The drop in GDP goes far beyond urban sprawl enabled by ICE vehicles.
"Population thresholds used to differentiate rural and urban communities range from 2,500 up to 50,000, depending on the definition." [1] That page goes on to describe a bunch more details, but the fuzzy idea of what people mean is somewhere with population density below roughly 500 people/square mile and not in commuting distance to an urban center.
Be careful of that though. Urban is very broadly defined by the census. I live in a 7,000 person town 40 miles outside of a major city. Myself and 2 neighbors are collectively on 75 acres and are adjacent to conservation land. This area is considered urban.
Note that, the census considers many “small farm towns” to be “urban areas.” For example, Sibley, Iowa, where my wife grew up. It qualifies because it’s population is 3,000 people (over the 2,500 limit the census bureau uses). But it’s not what most people would consider to be an “urban area.”
Note the definition of urban area though: "To qualify as an urban area, the territory identified according to criteria must encompass at least 2,500 people, at least 1,500 of which reside outside institutional group quarters."
Urban really means not clearly rural. But there are a lot of "urban areas" 10s of miles outside metropolitan areas that people would consider exurban with forests and homes on significant acreage.
As I've said before, the census definition of "urban" makes sense in the context of the vast areas of the US that are truly middle of nowhere rural. But most places that are classified as urban have very little in common with a city core where you can walk out of your apartment to the corner store. I live in an urban area between an apple orchard and a Christmas tree farm.
[1] https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/geography/guidance/g...
reply