Sprawl Beyond Sprawl: America Moves to Smaller Metropolitan Areas

New Geography reports:

Overall, between 2000 and 2007, U.S. Bureau of the Census data indicates that the metropolitan areas with more than 1,000,000 population in 2000 have lost two million domestic migrants, or 1.3 percent of their population. In contrast, smaller metropolitan areas --- those with populations between 50,000 to 1,000,000 --- gained 2.2 million domestic migrants, or 2.2 percent of their population. Smaller areas (under 50,000, including rural areas) also gained, attracting 700,000 domestic migrants, or 1.6 percent of their population.

But the real the growth is concentrated not in small towns but among the metropolitan areas between 100,000 and 500,000 population. Overall, these medium sized metropolitan areas added 1.6 million domestic migrants --- a very healthy 7.6 percent of their population.