Census Bureau Finds Record 75.2% Living in Urban Areas

More Americans lived in urban areas in the 1980s than at any other time in history, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Tuesday.

The trend was particularly apparent in California, which had the highest percentage of urban dwellers in the country and the most urban land.

In part, the urban growth was fueled by foreign immigrants and small-town dwellers fleeing depressed economic conditions. But it was also a result of urban sprawl--the gradual overtaking of suburban and rural areas by urban centers.

The Census Bureau report said 187.1 million Americans, or 75.2% of the nation’s population, lived in big cities or their suburbs at the end of the decade.

In 1980, 167.1 million, or 73.7%, lived in urban areas.

Correspondingly, the number of people living in places with populations of fewer than 2,500 rose from 59.5 million to 61.7 million.

California had the highest percentage of residents--92.6%--living in urban areas; it also had the most urban land, 8,175.4 square miles. In 1980, 91.3% of all Californians lived in cities and suburbs.

Vermont had the highest percentage of residents living in small towns, 67.8%, whereas Alaska had the most rural land, 569,733.3 square miles.

The Census Bureau also found that 11 states increased their percentage of rural residents during the 1980s, compared to 19 states from 1970 to 1980. And, the figures show, North Carolina and North Dakota were the only states where the majority of the population shifted from rural to urban during the 1980s.

The proportion of urban dwellers has risen steadily since census demographers first noted in 1920 that a majority of Americans lived in cites.

The trend toward urban growth generally parallels employment opportunities, which historically have moved from rural areas to urban ones, said Larry Long, a housing and household demographer at the Census Bureau.

Long also noted that the pace of immigration increased during the decade, helping to fuel the cities’ growth.

“There was less growth (nationally) due to immigration during the 1970s, but in the ‘80s there was tremendous growth,” he said.

Carl Haub, a demographer with the Population Reference Bureau, a Washington-based nonpartisan research group, suggested that, in addition to reflecting actual movement of the population, the census figures show a decline in the number of places considered to be rural.

“There are a lot of places that used to be rural that are now mini-cities in the suburbs. A group of housing developments appear out in the sticks and attracts a mall, and suddenly, it’s become urban.”

Under the government definition, municipalities with populations as small as 2,500 can be considered urban.