Small town growth in the United States: An analysis by size class and by place

Abstract

Small town population change is an important factor in the urbanization process. We analyzed changes in incorporated places under 10,000 in the United States during the 1940-60 period, making a distinction between changes in population size classes and changes in places grouped by initial size. We made balance sheets for size classes under 1,000, 1,000-2,500, and 2,500-10,000 in order to divide the percent increase by size class into five additive components: (1)growth of places staying in the class, (2) net shifts of growing towns into and out of the class, (8) net shifts of declining towns into and out of the class, (4) addition of new places, and (5) disappearance of places during the time period. Separate tabulations were made by metropolitan location, region, and decade. p ]Places under 10,000 population the initial year grew during both census decades considered. Growth differentials paralleled those generally found for the total population, with the most rapid growth near large cities in the West and (except for non-metropolitan places) over the 1940-60 decade.We found results to be different for population changes of particular size classes. Except in some Urbanized Area locations, the two larger size classes increased in population over both decades. In contrast, the under-1,000 size class declined in almost every case. This decline was not due to decreasing population of places within the class or to the disappearance of places between censuses but rather to the growth of places into larger classes not compensated for by decline of other places into the class or new incorporations.