Where America lives: It's been a long time since U.S. commerce depended on waterways, but most Americans still live near coasts or rivers - Illustration

American Demographics, June, 1997 by Brad Edmondson, Berna Miller

It's been a long time since U.S. commerce depended on waterways, but most Americans still live near coasts or rivers.

In the last census, 80 percent of Americans lived in metropolitan areas that claimed 16 percent of the country's land. The 24 largest metro areas, claiming just 4 percent of land, are home to half of the country's Hispanics and Asians, along with 40 percent of blacks. The biggest towns are where most market research takes place and where the fiercest business battles are fought. But it's helpful to remember that in most of America, land is cheap and customers are scarce.

In this map, metropolitan counties are in two shades of red, depending on whether their population density per square mile will be above or below the national median for metro counties in 2001. Nonmetro counties are in two shades of blue, depending on whether they will be above or below the projected median density for all nonmetros. The country's densest places were built before automobiles, and many are located along water travel routes. In the (2) New York, metro area, almost 7,500 people are crammed into each square mile. More than 2,000 per square mile will live in Nassau-Suffolk, NY and (1) Los Angeles. The densest places also include seafaring towns like San Francisco, Philadelphia, (4) Boston, and Jersey City. Of the 24 metropolitan areas expected to have more than 2 million residents in 2001, 18 have major ports.

Rainfall also determines density. The 100th meridian runs along the Texas-Oklahoma border, goes through (100) Dodge City, KS, and bisects the Dakotas. West of this line, few crops can grow without irrigation. That's why residents of the wide-open West crowd around the few places with water.