Is the US a predominantly rural country in your opinion?

46 comments

1. Not at all. Census data shows that the majority of Americans live in urban areas.

2. You would be mistaken.

3. Most of the population lives in either Urban or Suburban areas. But we do have vast areas that are rural, or even fully wild in the National Parks.

   So population wise? No. Land use wise? Yes.

4. Frankly, I’m having a hard time believing that a mentally competent adult would think the US is mostly rural “aside from New York and LA”.

5. No?

   83% of the US population live in cities according to the most recent CIA data. This is pretty average for a developed nation.

6. The US does have a lot of rural areas but they are sparsely populated–and getting increasingly so. People are moving to urban and suburban areas. A lot of small cities are getting bigger, big cities are getting increasingly expensive.

7. So, I think this would be a misconception. We absolutely have a ton of people living in rural areas, but we also have a fuck ton of people living in urban and suburban areas. If I had to choose one to say is the “stereotype,” I’d probably choose suburban living. The suburbs of cities can be enormous

8. Population wise no, but most of the land is pretty rural or forested/naturesque outside the well developed city areas. Which is pretty much the standard for most developed nations.

9. Depends. If you mean is the population predominantly rural then no. Most people live in metro areas so cities or suburbs. If you mean the actual landmass of the US then yea most of it is rural or wilderness.

   Also if you did mean population can I ask why exactly you had that impression? Especially since you appear to be Canadian. I don’t understand how you could think the US is mostly rural in terms of population distribution.

10. in terms of land area, yes

11. No. Most Americans live in urban areas, even if most of the land mass is rural.

    A lot of countries have just one or two cities where most people live, but that isn’t the case here.

    For example, Chicago, Houston, Boston, Miami, Atlanta, Seattle, Dallas, Philadelphia, and San Francisco are just some of the major US cities beyond NY and LA where Americans live.

12. In land mass sure it’s rural most of our land isn’t inhabited by many people. However that certainly isn’t how most Americans live.

    If you look at this population map you’ll see that there are a few areas of dense population with huge open areas of nothingness.

    https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:US_population_map.png

    What you don’t see is that those green areas only make-up 20% of all Americans. So yes in land mass we are a rural country. By population we are not as 80% of us live what is classified as an urban area.

    https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2022/urban-rural-populations.html#:~:text=The%20rural%20population%20%E2%80%94%20the%20population,of%20changes%20to%20the%20criteria.

13. Not at all. It’s like with China or India, you have cities with several million people that aren’t talked about internationally, but are bigger than many cities in Europe. For example, Manchester would only be about the 25th biggest urban area in the United States. Lyon (France’s second largest city) would be 29th, right between Austin and Las Vegas.

14. Do you mean population-wise or just in land area?

    Population, not at all. Total land. Yes. Especially when you consider Alaska.

15. Land mass, yes. Population, No.

16. no, most Americans live in cities. We aren’t as concentrated as, like, France where almost a fifth of people in the country live in Paris, but the country is primarily urban. Like more than 40% of us live in the top 25 metro areas by population.

17. Not anymore.

18. My state is but I wouldn’t say most of the country is.

19. No. Geographically, sure, more land is rural, but (by the very nature of rural vs. suburban/urban areas) that accounts for far fewer people than more densely populated areas.

20. Land wise, yes but cultural or even population wise, no.

21. Only by land area. By population most people are gathered into cities, suburbs or at least small towns.

    I think what catches most people off guard about the US the lack of density. People aren’t necessarily Rural in the middle of nowhere sense, but the cities in most of the country are very spread out and a lot of people are living in or just outside small to mid sized cities you’d never hear of if you don’t live within 50 miles. Neither those towns nor the sprawl are strictly rural, but they’re also very much not a dense city like most think of as “urbanized”

22. No, there’s lots of major cities aside from the coasts around the country.

23. It’s mostly rural/undeveloped land. But the vast majority of the population lives in urban locations.

24. In land area, sure. I live in a huge square state, you can fit the entire UK into my state with land to spare and we have about 5 million total inhabitants.

    We aren’t, obviously, evenly distributed. Most of the population live in an urban center or immediately adjacent to one.

25. Depends what you mean by “predominantly.”

    Population wise? Nope.
    Geographically? Absolutely.

26. Compared to most of the rest of the world, yes. But that includes China and India, so that stacks the deck some.

27. Not predominantly but it has its spots, what about Canada? Is Canada more or less rural?

28. By land area, yeah. Most countries are.

    But ~80% of the population lives in urban areas, so by that definition the US would be predominantly urban.

29. No.

30. If you go by land area yes. If you go by population, absolutely not.

31. Land-wise, yes.

    Population, not really.

    We have large and mid-sized cities in the center. Chicago, Columbus, Detroit, Atlanta, Denver, Houston, etc.

32. I don’t think that’s been the case since the 1930s

33. It does not matter how I feel about it, we have data on this subject and its clear the majority lives in urban areas.

34. As a whole, the country is Urban. However, some states, like my own, are definitely very rural and there are more rural states than there are urban. So the answer may be different depending on how you look at it.

35. We’re primarily urban, but there’s a ***LOT*** of land in the US. Take that as you will.

36. Complete opposite.

37. No. This is not a matter of opinion all economic data indicates it isn’t.

38. You need to realize most of New York is cows. A small tiny bit has tall buildings.

39. The US population is predominantly suburban.

    No good figures on it due to different methods/definitions, but my rough calculation is that around 60% of Americans live in a suburban-style built environment, characterized by exclusionary land use, dominance of single-family detached housing, low-to-moderate population density, curvilinear street pattern (non-grid), and domination by car-dependent infrastructure (highways, parking lots, stroads). I’ll note that these ‘suburban’ areas exist within city limits, in incorporated suburban municipalities, and in (mostly) unincorporated exurban areas.

40. There are plenty of large cities between New York and LA.

41. I’d say it’s 50/50. You’ll find statistics that say most Americans live in urban cities, but then you’ll see that most of those cities are very small and are surrounded by wilderness.

    The life of the average American is in a city or town. But the road trips between cities would suggest we’re rural.

42. Lol no, we live in cities

43. By area, yes. By population, no.

44. About 80% of the US population lives in an urban area. NY and LA are two of the biggest urban areas, but by far not the only urban areas

    https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2022/urban-rural-populations.html

45. Do you mean land area wise? If so yes just as most countries are. If you mean population wise it’s mostly urban as the majority of the population lives in a urban or suburban setting.

46. It’s not a matter of opinion. About 80% of Americans live in urban areas (which I believe includes suburbs). That leaves about 20% living in rural areas.

    In terms of land area, then yes. It’s predominantly rural. But that’s common sense for a large country (vs. something like Monaco).