The Densest Cities in America

31 March 2008 - 5:00am

The blog post features a list of the top five densest cities in America, and looks at the conditions that have made them that way.

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"Recently an American economist crunched the numbers and determined the most dense urban areas in America–something that may be a bit of a misnomer, given our national reputation for sprawl and hourlong commutes.

Nevertheless, he had some shocking findings relating to location, geography, and public transportation."

The Top Five:

5. Chicago, Illinois
4. Honolulu, Hawaii
3. Los Angeles, California
2. San Francisco, California
3. New York, New York

Source: Environmental Graffiti, Mar 26, 2008

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Philadelphia and Boston

Thanks, ChevyChaseDC! More interesting than how many orders of magnitude LA is more sprawling than NY is the conclusion (on page 707) that Philadelphia is less sprawling than Chicago, and Boston is less sprawling than LA.

this article has already been thoroughly disproven

I have yet to see a more

I have yet to see a more comprehensive analysis of the sprawl/density issue than the academic paper below:

http://www.fanniemaefoundation.org/programs/hpd/pdf/HPD_1204_galster.pdf

Though analysis of many factors beyond urban area population density this article affirms that in fact LA is not the least sprawling metropolis in the US - that's New York's rightful place.