sprawling

IDAHO

The Big Picture

COLORADO SPRAWL IN THE NATIONAL AND GLOBAL CONTEXT

Sprawl Still a Problem After All These Years (and Americans and Coloradans Are Still Concerned)

By 2017, according to the most recent iteration of the National Resources Inventory (NRI), some 116,303,000 acres of land – 181,723 square miles – in the United States had been developed. This is an area nearly 20,000 square miles larger than the state of California (163,700 square miles), our third largest state.  Only Alaska and Texas are larger.  Another way of conveying the comparative extent of this developed land area is that it is approximately equal to the states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania combined, that is, all of New England and much of the Mid-Atlantic States.

In the 35-year (1982-2017) period measured by the most recent National Resources Inventory (NRI), conducted by the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (or NRCS, formerly the Soil Conservation Service or SCS), approximately 69,000 square miles (44,175,300 acres) of open space, natural habitats, and farmland in the United States were converted into “Developed Land,” including housing, shopping malls, streets, schools, government buildings, utility infrastructure, waste treatment facilities, parking lots, vacation homes, resorts, highways, and places of work, worship, and entertainment.  An area larger than Florida, our 22nd largest state, was “paved over” in just 35 years.

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Which states have sprawled the most in recent decades? Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Georgia, and California are the top 5 sprawlers.  Texas alone sprawled over 6,630 square miles in this time period, 52% more than the second-place state, Florida.  Texans have witnessed and experienced this explosive growth firsthand.  Colorado is ranked 21st nationally in terms of the amount of Open Space lost to urban sprawl and development from 1982 to 2017. 

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Table 1. Sprawl in 49 States, 1982-2017, Ranked by Increase in Land Area
Sprawl Ranking 1982-2017 State Overall Sprawl (in square miles), 1982-2017
Total 68,560

Source: 2017 NRCS National Resources Inventory; Table 1
Note:  Includes all states except Alaska; does not include territories

Source: 2017 NRCS National Resources Inventory; Table 1
Note:  Includes all states except Alaska; does not include territories

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Table 3. Cumulative Sprawl in 49 States, Ranked by Total Developed Land Area in 2017
Cumulative Sprawl Ranking State Cumulative Sprawl (square miles) in 2017
Total Sprawl 179,807
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Table 2. Sprawl in 49 States, 2002-2017, Ranked by Increase in Land Area
Sprawl Ranking 2002-2017 State Overall Sprawl (in square miles), 2002-2017
Total 17,793

Source: 2017 NRCS National Resources Inventory; Table 1
Note:  Includes all states except Alaska; does not include territories

Two Decades of NumbersUSA Studies on Population Growth and Urban Sprawl

STUDIES

  • 2023 Californicating Idaho
  • 2023 Illusion of Endless Texas Habitat
  • 2022 Disappearing Colorado
  • 2022 From Sea To Sprawling Sea (49 states)
  • 2021 A Thirsty Arizona
  • 2020 Californication of Oregon
  • 2017 Paving The Piedmont (GA, SC, NC)
  • 2017 Texas Urban Triangle
  • 2014 Vanishing Natural Florida
  • 2014 Vanishing Open Spaces (48 states)
  • 2003 Outsmarting Smart Growth (48 states)
  • 2001 Large U.S. Cities
  • 2000 Sprawl In Florida
  • 2000 Sprawl In California

    • REPORTS

  • 2024 NEVADA NO. 1
  • 2024 LOVE HURTS (NC)
  • 2023 SPRAWL IN MINNESOTA
  • 2003 CHESAPEAKE BAY WATERSHED (VA, MD, PA, WV)
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