Urban Fit

Places with a large own population and strong surrounding urban population context score highest.

Scale0-100

Higher values rank better for this score.

How It's Calculated

The latest published score is normalized to a 0-100 scale. The method below explains what the score rewards, with technical source metadata available for audit.

1
The scorer calculates own population scale, population density, total nearby population gravity, external nearby population gravity, and proximity to external larger centers.
2
Bucket assignment uses explicit rules: large standalone cities and dense high-gravity metro fabric score Urban
3
places close to a larger core or with very strong external metro context score Suburban
4
very small low-density places are guarded toward Outskirts
5
weaker or farther metro context scores Outskirts
6
standalone town-scale places score Small Town
7
and very small low-context places score Rural.
8
Urban Fit scores highest when the assigned bucket matches large city and urban-core contexts
9
neighboring buckets get partial credit.

Technical details

Score TypeMaster Score

Read from the current master score table for this criterion.

Ranking BasisSingle Score

The top 10 below ignore your blended relocation weights and sort only by Urban Fit.

No source details available for this score.

What This Score Means

Urban Fit rewards places whose population scale and surrounding settlement context fit large city and urban-core contexts.

Statistics Feeding This Score

Total population
Current canonical place population, using Census Population Estimates Program data where available and ACS fallback otherwise.
Source: U.S. Census Population Estimates Program
Nearby population gravity
Population of nearby places within 60 miles, distance-decayed so closer centers matter more. The stored nearby value includes the place itself.
Source: Derived from canonical population inputs and place coordinates
Population density
Current place population divided by Census Gazetteer land area in square miles, used to distinguish dense urban fabric from lower-density suburbs and outskirts.
Source: Derived from canonical population inputs and Census Gazetteer land area
External population gravity
Distance-decayed nearby population excluding the scored place itself, used to distinguish standalone cities and towns from metro-embedded places.
Source: Derived from canonical population inputs and place coordinates
Larger-center proximity
Distance to nearby 50k, 200k, and 1M population centers, including external 200k and 1M centers for metro-context rules.
Source: Places location coordinates
Settlement bucket
The assigned Urban, Suburban, Outskirts, Small Town, or Rural bucket.
Source: Derived settlement-context model

Source Data

Source: U.S. Census Population Estimates ProgramAnnual Census population estimates for cities, towns, and other local governmental units. Population-size scoring uses these estimates when available and falls back to ACS for Census places not covered by PEP.Source: U.S. Census American Community Survey 5-YearCensus ACS 5-year estimates for housing, income, population, occupation, education, and race/ethnicity inputs at place, county, or CBSA geography depending on the score.Source: U.S. Census Gazetteer FilesCensus geographic reference files with place land area, water area, and representative coordinates.

Source: Places location coordinatesLatitude and longitude stored for each place and used for Haversine distance and proximity calculations.

Known Limits

PEP does not publish every Census-designated place, so ACS is used as a fallback when no PEP incorporated-place match exists.
The model uses representative place points, current place populations, Census Gazetteer land area when available, and straight-line distance.
It does not yet use tract/block urban-area polygons, commute flows, road travel time, or neighborhood-level urban form.

Top 10 Locations

Ranked by Urban Fit.

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