Agenda - Economic Development Authority - 08/25/2011 - Special Meeting

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BUDS Explanation Buvon /Dentifying Customers The Buxton Urban Density System (BUDS) is a measure of population density that describes the differences among highly rural areas and highly urban areas. BUDS accounts for the population and employee density decay that occurs when moving further from an urban center by examining population per square foot. BUDS is assigned at the block group level, the lowest level of the geographic hierarchy for which the Census Bureau tabulates. Block groups are a subdivision of a census tract generally containing between 600 and 3,000 people with an optimum size of 1,500 people and totals 208,632 distinct block groups. After analyzing the average population/employee density for all of the block groups in five mile rings, the block groups are then divided up into five classifications based on average population and employee density. Thresholds for these five categories are determined by calculating the average population/employee density within these five -mile rings. Adjustments were made to these classifications based on a ten -mile radius to ensure that each block group was in the correct category. The five BUDS classifications and their average five -mile population and employee densities are as follows: i Average Population Average Density at Five Employee Density BUDS Definition Miles at Five Miles 1 Rural 15,703 375 2 In -Town 3 Suburban/Small City 4 Metropolitan 5 High -Rise Living/Urban 73,385 150,963 324,778 1,141,223 1,291 1,954 3,013 7,705 Additionally, the chart below further illustrates the five BUDS groups by comparing percentages of population to land area. BUDS Definition Population 1 Rural 47,749,280 Land Area (in square miles) 2,989,702 Population per Square Mile 1.6 Population Percent of U.S. 16% Land Percent of U.S. 89.2% 2 In -Town 42,720,350 I- 3 Suburban 126,442,413 4 Metropolitan 55,446,058 5 Urban 12,176,327 U.S. Total 292,934,571 226,375 122,771 12,265 1,307 3,352,421 188.7 1,029.9 4,520.7 9,316.2 15% 43% 19% 7% 6.8% 3.7% 0.4% 0.0% This chart illustrates how population density decreases from Urban to Rural areas. For example, Urban areas command a miniscule amount of land space but contain 7% of the U.S. residential/employee population. By contrast, 3.7% of the United States' land area is Suburban, but it contains 43% of the residential/employee population. Additionally, 89.2% of the United States' land area is Rural, but Rural areas only contain 16% of the residential population. CustornerlD