Small is beautiful: one in 20 Americans lives in a metropolitan area

American Demographics, Jan, 1998 by Kevin Heubusch

Big metropolitan areas are big magnets, drawing 80 percent of the U.S. population and grabbing newspaper headlines. But scattered across the country are scores of small cities offering an alternative to large-scale city life. Some are familiar; others may be a surprise. The fastest-growing small cities are outpacing metro hot spots such as Atlanta and Colorado Springs.

The well-worn litany of big-city evils is familiar: crime, tailing schools, pollution, and traffic jams. Many metropolitan residents eventually tire of metropolitan stress and prices. And those who have established their careers or are looking for a little more home for their money, often look beyond big cities for their next move.

The suburbs, the popular alternative of the past 50 years, are not as enticing as they once were. Like central cities, suburbs are in the crosshairs. They are criticized for the numbing sprawl of fast-food joints, strip malls, and townhome tracts. High prices, high taxes, and traffic jams are also accepted features of many suburbs. Meanwhile, older suburbs are showing themselves vulnerable to the decline once thought reserved for abandoned central cities. "Older suburbs in the Washington [D.C.] area are becoming a lot more like older cities" land-use consultant Douglas R. Porter told the Washington Post in 1997."If they are not careful, they could end up with slums."

Of course, the urban or suburban resident who is tired of traffic, prices, and the stress of crowding, noise, and crime can escape to the country. Just think of Eddy Arnold and Zsa Zsa Gabor in "Green Acres." But for many, this option may be too drastic. What's left? Small cities.

WHAT'S MICROPOLITAN?

"Micropolitan areas" are small cities located beyond congested metro areas. The best micros offer "city" benefits on a manageable scale--community without the crush, services without the stress. They are large enough to attract jobs, restaurants, diversions, and community organizations, but small enough to sidestep the traffic jams, high crime rates, and high property taxes often associated with heavily urbanized areas.

Many micros are surrounded by countryside, or are close to national parks and wilderness. Few are truly isolated. Apart from extreme examples such as Fairbanks, Alaska, more than half of small cities are within 50 miles of a metropolitan city center. The median price of a small-city home was 68 percent of the national average in 1990; the average per-capita property tax bill was 60 percent of the national average in 1992. Crime rates are lower, on average, too. The total crime rate in micropolitan America was 25 percent below the national average in 1994; the violent crime rate was 56 percent below.

How small is a small city? There is no official government definition of a micropolitan. As used here, a micropolitan consists of at least one central city and one surrounding county. First and foremost, it may not be part of an officially designated Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). This puts the micro outside the metro squeeze and beyond suburban sprawl. The central city must contain at least 15,000 residents, and the surrounding county must contain at least 40,000 residents (including the central city). The smallest micro is Poplar Bluff, Missouri (population 40,146); the largest is Torrington, Connecticut (population 178,523).

The U.S. has 193 small cities that currently qualify as micropolitans, according to 1994 population estimates. Micros were home to 14 million people that year, or 5 percent of the U.S. population. Nearly 27 percent of Idaho and New Mexico residents live in small cities. In Maine and Montana, the share is 23 percent; in New Hampshire and Oregon, 17 percent. Ohio has 1.1 million people living in 14 small cities across the state. Six states have no micros, either because their populations are too densely packed or too sparsely scattered beyond their metros: Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and South Dakota.

Small cities differ as dramatically as Key West, Florida differs from Ames, Iowa. They run the gamut from Texas border towns to northeastern college towns. If you're thinking of relocating to a small city, it's a good idea to consider them by specific criteria: housing, community assets, weather, public safety. Or if you're thinking of marketing to a small city, you may want to identify the fastest-growing, the wealthiest, the best-educated. The Rating Guide scores each micropolitan in the ten categories of climate and environment, diversions, economy, education, community assets, health care, housing, public safety, transportation, and urban proximity.

The ten category scores are also totaled for a final score. This score, weighing all categories equally, provides a measure of the overall quality of life in each micro. It's by this total score that Ames, Iowa, for example, ranks as one of the top micros and Key West, Florida, does not. Key West is strong in snorkeling, daiquiris, mild winter weather, and high retail sales. But if you are in search of a job, a moderately priced three-bedroom house, below-average crime rates, and proximity to a national retail market, Ames is a much better bet.