Rural, Suburban, Urban: unit vocabulary (article) | Khan Academy (2024)

FAQs

What is the vocabulary of suburban? ›

Suburban refers to areas just beyond a city's border. Your parents might have grown up in the city and then moved to a more suburban area after they had kids. If you see a lot of malls, plus houses that all look the same, and you're just outside a city, then you're in a suburban area: the suburbs.

There are lots of houses in suburban areas, but not as many other buildings as urban areas—maybe just one or two small shops or stores. A rural community is one with lots of nature and open spaces, with fewer people and buildings than urban or suburban areas.

Suburban areas originally developed as subsets of cities, but now suburban communities in America often exist independently of cities and are essentially a middle ground between rural and urban.

A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area which is predominantly residential and within commuting distance of a large city.

/ˈrʊərəl/ Rural means "relating to or characteristic of the country or the people who live there." If you move to a rural area, you won't see a lot of skyscrapers or taxis — but you'll probably see a lot of trees.

Use the adjective urban to refer to cities or people who live in cities. It carries a suggestion of grittiness––urban style involves darker colors. The terms city and town are sometimes used inconsistently. If it is large enough, a town is considered to be an urban area.

According to the current delineation, released in 2022 and based on the 2020 decennial census, rural areas comprise open country and settlements with fewer than 2,000 housing units and 5,000 residents. Urban areas comprise densely developed areas with 2,000 or more housing units or 5,000 or more residents.

How does the Census define “rural”? The Census does not define “rural.” They consider “rural” to include all people, housing, and territory that are not within an urban area. Any area that is not urban is rural. The Census defines urban as: Urbanized Areas (UAs) of 50,000 or more people.

A rural area is an open swath of land that has few homes or other buildings, and not very many people. A rural areas population density is very low.

What is an example of a suburban location? The city of New York is located on the island of Manhattan between the East River and the Hudson River. To the north, west, and east of the city are dozens of smaller cities and towns that make up the suburbs of New York.

Why is it called suburban? ›

early 14c., "outlying area of a town or city, area just outside the walls," whether agricultural or residential but frequently residential, from Old French suburbe "suburb of a town," from Latin suburbium "an outlying part of a city" (especially Rome), from sub "below, near" (see sub-) + urbs (genitive urbis) "city" ( ...

Suburbia. William Levitt revolutionized the way Americans live and ushered in an age of suburbia by providing inexpensive housing outside the city. Racial fears, affordable housing, and the desire to leave decaying cities were all factors that prompted many white Americans to flee to suburbia.

A suburb is a residential district located on the outskirts of a city. If you live in the suburbs, you probably travel to the city for work. Suburb comes from Latin: sub means "below or near" and urbis means "city." You also will recognize this root in urban.

: an outlying part of a city or town. b. : a smaller community adjacent to or within commuting distance of a city. c. suburbs plural : the residential area on the outskirts of a city or large town.

Suburban areas are lower density areas that separate residential and commercial areas from one another. They are either part of a city or urban area, or exist as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city. As cars became the dominant way for people to get to work, suburbs grew.

The area is a part of a place, usually defined by a function. If you can't stop talking, don't sit in the quiet area of the library. In Latin, area means a vacant piece of ground, but we use it in English to talk about a region or place that's a subset of another larger region.