The United States is a highly urbanized nation with space in abundance, yet large portions of its national territory are emptying out. The counterpart of this pervasive population decline is a highly selective pattern of growth, conferred by a national system of migration flows that has increasingly favored a certain few metropolitan areas. This…

It is proposed in this document that the selectivity of migration, in terms of both people and places become a more imposing influence in urbanization as the role of natural increase as a source of urban growth diminishes. Recent U.S. growth policy proposals have frequently been marked by a simplistic view of how urban growth works, compounded by…

Presenting narrative and tabular documentation of the revival of population growth in remote, rural areas and the decline of growth in urban areas, this bulletin describes the characteristics of these shifts, considers their possible causes, and suggests some of the problems and potential benefits. Specifically, this report presents the following:…