U.S. Census Bureau Update: Dallas is Pretty Dense at 1,112 People psm — No Wonder Our Market is Hot!

This is kind of surprising to those of us who think of Dallas as one great big urban sprawl, everyone living on half acre lots or on ranches. We are actually pretty dense and getting more dense. A U.S. Census Bureau report on urban population density shows that the D/FW area’s density of 1,112 people per square mile is actually higher than many eastern, old-growth urban cities. Like Philly. Who’d have thunk it? Here’s how we stack up:

— Austin  (1,006 people/square mile)

— Houston (1,150 people/square mile)

— Philadelphia (1,060 people/square mile)

— Boston ((862)

— Detroit (1,078)

— Cleveland (891)

— Pittsburgh (740)

— Cincinnati (796)

— Milwaukee (974)

— Columbus (1,035)

— Indianapolis (814)

— Providence (844)

–Atlanta (659)

The nation’s most densely populated urbanized area is Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, Calif., with nearly 7,000 people per square mile. The San Francisco-Oakland, Calif., area is the second most densely populated at 6,266 people per square mile, followed by San Jose, Calif. (5,820 people per square mile) and Delano, Calif. (5,483 people per square mile). The New York-Newark, N.J., area is fifth, with an overall density of 5,319 people per square mile.Of course, Chicago, New York and San Francisco remain much more dense than Dallas but still, this is interesting. Interestingly, some of those are also cities where Case Shiller shows real estate values are lower than low, cities like Detroit and Cleveland, which is losing much of its core population.

Other interesting facts: of the nation’s four census regions, the West remains most urban, with 89.8 percent of its population residing within urban areas, followed by the Northeast, at 85.0 percent. The Midwest and South continue to have lower percentages of urban population than the nation as a whole, with rates of 75.9 and 75.8, respectively.