Metro area ‘fringes’ are booming

Americans continue their march away from congested and costly areas halfway through the decade, settling in more remote counties even if it means longer commutes, according to Census population estimates released Thursday. (

Some of the fastest-growing counties in 2005 lie on the farthest edges of large metropolitan areas, stretching the definition of “exurbs” to the limit.

“It’s not just the decade of the exurbs but the decade of the exurbs of the exurbs,” says William Frey, demographer at the Brookings Institution. “People are leaving expensive cores and going as far out as they can to get a big house and a big yard. Suburbia is moving much further out.”

Some of the fastest-growing counties from July 1, 2004, to July 1, 2005, include Caroline and King George counties in Virginia, north of Richmond and south of Washington, and Grundy County, Ill., about 60 miles southwest of the Chicago Loop.

USA Today