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Real estate and Urbanization

The entire world population is moving to the cities. More opportunities and better living standard are considered to be the main reasons behind urbanization. America is no different when it comes to the urbanization topic. Almost 80% of the American population is now living in the cities. On the contrary, in the early 1800s, almost 90% of the entire US population used to live in the rural areas. This drastic increase in people moving to the cities has provided real estate agents and investors with a plethora of opportunities. If you are working in the real estate industry, you need to learn more about urbanization and its trends.

Early days of urbanization in the USA

Before the industrial revolution, majority of the US population lived in rural communities. Due to advances in modes of transportation and the creation of better job opportunities, people started moving out of their rural lives. These were high times to be in the United States of America and all sorts of opportunities rolled in. Every business started to reach new heights thanks to the formation of the New York Stock Exchange in the 1970s. People started moving in and the real estate industry became huge. It is said that with a boom in the job market, with people moving towards the cities, the real estate industry started picking up huge traction.
After 1890, the Industrial Revolution came along. This resulted in an improved access to larger U.S. metropolitan regions with advances in transportation. In the next two decades, the number of Americans living in the urban areas increased to 50 million. The total number of Americans living in the urban areas surpassed the ones living in rural areas in the year 1920

Suburbanization:

In the early 20th century, US citizens were heading to the cities. They had better living standards and better paying jobs. After a brief period of leisure, the entire world hit with a catastrophe i.e. The World War II. People lost their jobs and started moving to areas that were neither rural nor urban. These areas were named as suburbs. Many suburban communities started forming at Long Island, New York and Philadelphia. These places were more affordable and were found to be ideal for family life. The population in suburban areas increased up to 50% by the end of the 20th century.

Back to urbanization:

In the beginning of the 21st century, the US was hit with another depression. This time America was under a credit crisis. Many people were displaced from their homes and they moved back to the cities, looking for new homes and jobs.
According to the modern day statistics, US are now considered to be the most urbanized nation. US has urbanization rate of 80%, as compared to the international rate of 54%

The Statistics:

Regions with most density:

  • Los Angeles
  • San Francisco
  • San Jose
  • Delano
  • New York

Most of these densely populated areas lie in the West and seven among them are in California.

The top three urbanized regions

  1. New York-Newark, New Jersey
  2. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, California
  3. Chicago, Illinois

Most populous urban regions nationally

  1. West – 89.8%
  2. Northeast – 85%
  3. Midwest – 75.9%
  4. South – 75.8%

With an ever increasing population, America is adapting well and being more modernized. Many metropolitan cities in the US have suburbs attached to them. Most of the metropolitan cities of America have now turned into Megalopolis. Urbanization can help add to a countries economy. But we need to be careful about environment and never let the old rural spirits die.

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