California is the land of wide-open spaces. And everybody moves here from the East Coast to get away from those big, crowded cities. Right? Not anymore. In some ways, California is just as crowded as � or maybe even more crowded than � the East Coast. And it's only going to become more so during the decades ahead. That is the conclusion reached by CP&DR's sister organization, Solimar Research Group, in a report prepared for the Bookings Institution Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy. The report, "Who Sprawls Most?" concluded that there are significant differences in how metro areas in different parts of the country use land. The report measured "density" at the level of the metropolitan area, and defined density as the population (extrapolated from Census figures) divided by the amount of urbanized land (as estimated by the National Resources Inventory). The report examined trends as of 1997, as well as change between 1982 and 1997. As the map of Metropolitan Statistical Areas and Consolidated Metropolitan Statistic Areas shows, California is � surprisingly � one of the most densely populated places in the country. In fact, Los Angeles replaced New York as the densest metro area on the continental United States between 1982 and 1997. San Diego, the Bay Area, Monterey-Salinas, Visalia, and Modesto were all among the 15 densest metro areas in the country in 1997. The density change statistics between 1982 and 1997 are even more startling. Nationally, metropolitan densities dropped 20% during this period � from about 4.5 to 3.9 persons per urbanized acre. In most of the country � the East, Midwest, and South � metro areas saw about one acre of land urbanized for each new resident � even in places like New York. In California, however, the story is different. The density in 1982 was about 7 persons per urbanized acre � and it stayed that way through 1997. California is just more dense than the rest of the nation. If this conclusion does not make intuitive sense, try thinking about the metropolitan edge rather than the center. New York is extremely dense at its core, but it is very sprawling at the edge, which is an endless parade of 5- and 10-acre lots. California is different. Most new suburban development � even projects on the edge � are built at the familiar 6 to 8 units per acre. In New York, if you travel 60 miles away from the city center you get a bigger lot. In California, by contrast, all you get is a cheaper house, but on the same size lot you would find in the central city. The report can be found at www.solimar.org and www.brook.edu/urban.
