City-suburban population redistribution: what data from the 1970s reveal.

Abstract

Data from the Current Population Survey are used to analyze trends in the spatial distribution of the U.S. population in the 1970s. The data indicate that central cities continue to lose and suburban rings to gain population and there is no evidence of a trend involving the return of population to central city areas. The author suggests that observed declines in suburban population growth rates are associated with lower rates of natural increase not a decline in in-migration. (ANNOTATION)