Based on 2010 Census results, the nation’s most densely populated urbanized area is Los Angeles/Anaheim/Long Beach, California, with nearly 7,000 people per square mile. Surprised? Not only did the Los Angeles area rank first, but of the ten most densely populated urbanized areas, nine are in the West, with seven of those in California. Continue reading for more.
Los Angeles is followed by San Francisco-Oakland, California (6,266 people per square mile), San Jose, California (5,820 people per square mile), Delano, California (5,483 people per square mile) and then New York-Newark, N.J with an overall density of 5,319 people per square mile. However, the New York-Newark area still has the highest population, with 18,351,295 residents, followed by Los Angeles (12,150,996) and Chicago (8,608,208).
Among urbanized areas with populations of 1 million or more, the Charlotte, North Carolina – South Carolina, area grew at the fastest rate, increasing by 64.6%, followed by the Austin, Texas (51.1%) and Las Vegas-Henderson, Nevada (43.5%). The Charlotte and Austin areas also had the highest rates of land area change, increasing by 70.5 percent and 64.4 percent, respectively.
The report defines urban areas as densely developed residential, commercial and other nonresidential areas. They now account for 80.7 percent of the U.S. population, up from 79.0 percent in 2000.
Reference: U.S. Census Bureau, 89.3 KPCC
Photo by Flickr user Slices of Light, licensed through Creative Commons.
