US population disperses to suburbs, exurbs, rural areas, and "middle of the country" metros

Newly released census data for the first seven years of this decade signal a resumption of the population dispersal that was put "on hold" for a good part of the post-Great Recession period. The Census Bureau’s annual county and metropolitan area
estimates through 2017 reveal a revival of suburbanization and movement to rural areas along with Snow Belt-to-Sun Belt population shifts.

In addition, the data show a new dispersal to large- and moderate-sized metro areas in the middle of the country–especially in the Northeast and Midwest. If these shifts continue, they could call into question the sharp clustering of the nation’s population–in large metropolitan areas and their cities–that characterized the first half of the 2010s.

William H. Frey

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2018/03/26/us-population-disperses-to-suburbs-exurbs-rural-areas-and-middle-of-the-country-metros/

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