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.

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
1	Texas	6,634
2	Florida	4,353
3	North Carolina	3,996
4	Georgia	3,910
5	California	3,421
6	Pennsylvania	2,686
7	Tennessee	2,354
8	Michigan	2,208
9	Virginia	2,180
10	Ohio	2,149
11	South Carolina	2,136
12	Alabama	2,023
13	Arizona	1,744
14	New York	1,642
15	Kentucky	1,583
16	Washington	1,436
17	Illinois	1,332
18	Missouri	1,329
19	Wisconsin	1,261
20	Mississippi	1,217
21	Colorado	1,206
22	Indiana	1,203
23	Louisiana	1,192
24	Minnesota	1,146
25	Oklahoma	1,133
26	New Jersey	1,077
27	Massachusetts	1,038
28	Arkansas	1,035
29	New Mexico	1,019
30	Maryland	877
31	West Virginia	827
32	Utah	713
33	Oregon	688
34	Kansas	627
35	Idaho	583
36	Maine	581
37	New Hampshire	525
38	Nevada	514
39	Iowa	506
40	Montana	416
41	Connecticut	382
42	Nebraska	270
43	South Dakota	252
44	Wyoming	251
45	North Dakota	233
46	Vermont	224
47	Delaware	217
48	Hawaii	136
49	Rhode Island	99
	Total	68,560

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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
1	Texas	14,891
2	California	9,822
3	Florida	8,750
4	North Carolina	7,681
5	Georgia	7,390
6	Pennsylvania	7,045
7	Michigan	6,610
8	Ohio	6,601
9	New York	6,083
10	Illinois	5,447
11	Virginia	5,052
12	Tennessee	4,924
13	Missouri	4,717
14	Alabama	4,588
15	Wisconsin	4,360
16	South Carolina	4,269
17	Indiana	3,999
18	Washington	3,951
19	Minnesota	3,845
20	Oklahoma	3,454
21	Kentucky	3,352
22	Kansas	3,338
23	Arizona	3,280
24	Louisiana	3,122
25	Colorado	3,084
26	Iowa	3,069
27	Mississippi	3,045
28	Arkansas	2,940
29	New Jersey	2,925
30	Massachusetts	2,776
31	Maryland	2,398
32	Oregon	2,212
33	New Mexico	2,141
34	Nebraska	1,981
35	West Virginia	1,824
36	Montana	1,749
37	Connecticut	1,701
38	North Dakota	1,652
39	South Dakota	1,525
40	Idaho	1,458
41	Utah	1,451
42	Maine	1,368
43	New Hampshire	1,152
44	Wyoming	1,088
45	Nevada	850
46	Vermont	636
47	Delaware	466
48	Hawaii	393
49	Rhode Island	367
	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
1	Texas	2,616
2	Florida	1,065
3	Georgia	846
4	California	831
5	North Carolina	821
6	Virginia	560
7	Arizona	557
8	Tennessee	534
9	Pennsylvania	496
10	Ohio	490
11	South Carolina	487
12	Alabama	481
13	Oklahoma	431
14	Michigan	426
15	Illinois	391
16	Mississippi	385
17	Missouri	365
18	Wisconsin	362
19	Louisiana	362
20	Arkansas	348
21	New York	346
22	Indiana	341
23	Colorado	321
24	Kentucky	311
25	Utah	299
26	Washington	288
27	Minnesota	266
28	New Mexico	232
29	Maryland	192
30	Iowa	189
31	Nevada	181
32	Idaho	176
33	Massachusetts	163
34	Kansas	162
35	Montana	160
36	New Jersey	153
37	Oregon	141
38	Maine	139
39	North Dakota	132
40	West Virginia	129
41	New Hampshire	102
42	Nebraska	94
43	Wyoming	84
44	Delaware	81
45	Connecticut	75
46	Hawaii	58
47	Vermont	55
48	South Dakota	51
49	Rhode Island	23
	Total	17,793

ExpandState Details

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

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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)

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