Exurban Change Program - High Density Settlement

In 2002, low density settlement, or rural/wilderness, comprised 88,246 sq. mi., or 3.7%, of the American landscape (not including federal lands).  An estimated 223,395,176, or 79.2%, of Americans live in that settlement type.

Focusing only on metropolitan areas, medium density settlement comprises 79,732 sq. mi., or 10.8% of the landscape (not including federal lands).  An estimated 204,533,476, or 86.9%, of metropolitan area people live in that settlement type.

To learn more about this dataset, see how we operationalized these categories - Click Here.