A More Accurate Measurement of Community Connection

To better understand a city's size, look not to its resident population total but to its daytime population. 'Commuter-adjusted populations' have implications for everything from emergency evacuation procedures to transportation infrastructure.

1 minute read

May 31, 2013, 9:00 AM PDT

By Jonathan Nettler @nettsj

Emily Badger dissects information from "a new report from the Census Bureau using data from the American Community Survey" on the fluctuations between evening and daytime population totals experienced throughout the United States.

"'Commuter-adjusted populations' tell us a lot about where the jobs are and which communities do little more than give people a place to sleep. Count people where they work, and not where they live, and the resulting picture also further blurs the divide between cities and suburbs (and how we think about who is invested in which places)," she explains.

FULL STORY: The Most Important Population Statistic That Hardly Ever Gets Talked About

Thursday, May 30, 2013 in The Atlantic Cities

Social / Demographics United States Resident Population Population Commuter-Adjusted Population

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