In 1790, only about one out of every twenty Americans (on average) lived in urban areas (cities), but this ratio had dramatically changed to one out of four by 1870, one out of two by 1920, two out of three in the 1960s, and four out of five in the 2000s.
Urban areas are based off of 2.5k people in an area…I own a 200+ acre farm and have to drive 30mins (17miles) to the nearest grocery store…I am included in this urban classification…thats how the census is based.
Do you live in a census block with an average of 200 houses per square mile? Then you’re outside the urban area. 200 houses evenly spaced is 3.2 acre lots on average.
To qualify as an urban area, the
territory identified according to criteria must encompass at least 2,000 housing units or at least 5,000
people.
They also base it off of 50k or more people, so if your county has 50k or more you’re considered urbanized. My county has 56k people and multiple areas of farmland that was converted into subdivisions. This has our area marked as urban. Most people around my state will call my county and location as rural, but the census bureau says we’re urban.
https://css.umich.edu/publications/factsheets/built-environment/us-cities-factsheet#:~:text=It is estimated that 83,to live in urban areas.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2018/12/18/americans-say-theres-not-much-appeal-big-city-living-why-do-so-many-us-live-there/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urbanization_in_the_United_States
Y’ALL ARE CITY FOLK.
Urban areas are based off of 2.5k people in an area…I own a 200+ acre farm and have to drive 30mins (17miles) to the nearest grocery store…I am included in this urban classification…thats how the census is based.
Do you live in a census block with an average of 200 houses per square mile? Then you’re outside the urban area. 200 houses evenly spaced is 3.2 acre lots on average.
https://www2.census.gov/geo/pdfs/reference/ua/Census_UA_2020FAQs_Feb2023.pdf
They also base it off of 50k or more people, so if your county has 50k or more you’re considered urbanized. My county has 56k people and multiple areas of farmland that was converted into subdivisions. This has our area marked as urban. Most people around my state will call my county and location as rural, but the census bureau says we’re urban.