Abstract
This paper answers the question: how many Americans live in cities, suburbs, exurbs, and rural areas in the United States? Previous works have examined only one or some of these settlement types instead of accounting for the entire country’s population, or have employed highly technical classifications uncommon in common parlance. T his paper develops a comprehensive classification scheme using vernacular settlement types, then organizes U.S. Census data into the taxonomy presented here. This research contributes to the existing literature by (1) reporting the number and percentages living in all four major settlement types rather than covering only one or two of these categories; (2) delineating the population into four categories in order to adequately detail the full variety of major settlement types rather than classifying the population into a simple urban/nonurban scheme; and (3) using settlement type names that are common parlance rather than jargon.
Recommended Citation
Johnson, Brian Edward and Shifferd, Jason
(2016)
"Who Lives Where: A Comprehensive Population Taxonomy of Cities, Suburbs, Exurbs, and Rural Areas in the United States,"
The Geographical Bulletin: Vol. 57:
Iss.
1, Article 3.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/thegeographicalbulletin/vol57/iss1/3