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Urban sprawl remains one of the most contested topics and has a major impact on our daily lives. This project led by researchers from Johns Hopkins University is one of the most comprehensive efforts yet undertaken to define, measure and evaluate urban sprawl. We developed measures of sprawl as a composite index combining up to 21 variables in four dimensions.
The indices are available for 233 metropolitan areas, 995 urban counties, and 64,444 census tracts in the lower 48 states and the District of Columbia, covering 85% of the U.S. population. It is an update to a landmark study in 2014 which was covered by 110 media outlets and was used in more than 40 empirical studies on costs and benefits of sprawl.
The 2025 sprawl indices present a complete picture of who sprawls the most and which are more compact and connected county & metropolitan areas. This project examines how index scores relate to everyday life in 2025 through massive data collection and rigorous statistical analyses on several quality-of-life outcomes.
Sprawl Measures and Rankings 2025
Sprawl Measures and Rankings 2025
What Sprawl Means for Everyday Life
What Sprawl Means for Everyday Life
Fewer transportation options
Higher rates of residential energy burden
Lower housing, transportation, and energy affordability
Worse health outcomes, higher rates of hospitalizations due to COPD and heart attack
Less social connections and networking opportunities
Increased rates of disconnected youth
Increased risks of Lyme disease infection
Higher risks of fatal car crash and higher risks of pedestrian fatalities from car crashes
Research Team
Research Team
Shima Hamidi, PhD
Bloomberg Assistant Professor of American Health and director of the Center for Smart Transportation at Johns Hopkins University
Sajjad Abdollahpour, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for Smart Transportation, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University
Ebrahim Azimi, PhD
Associate Director & Assistant Scientist, Center for Smart Transportation, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Reid Ewing, PhD
Distinguished Professor of City and Metropolitan Planning & director of Metropolitan Planning Center at the University of Utah
Peer-Reviewed Publications
Peer-Reviewed Publications
Peer Reviewed Publications of 2025 Sprawl Index Updates
Hamidi, S., Abdollahpour, S., Azimi, E., & Ewing, R. (2025). Who sprawls the most in 2020? Measuring metropolitan sprawl and validating sprawl measures using inferential and machine learning approaches. Paper accepted for presentation at the 105th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board, Washington, D.C.
Hamidi, S., Abdollahpour, S. S., & Azimi, E. (2025). Typology of the regional spatial structure in the U.S.: A longitudinal analysis of 360 metropolitan areas between 2010 and 2020. Paper accepted for presentation at the 105th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board, Washington, D.C.
Abdollahpour, S. S., Azimi, E., & Hamidi, S. (2025). Urban centers evolution and nonlinear impacts on commuting patterns in the U.S. Paper accepted for presentation at the 105th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board, Washington, D.C.
Abdollahpour, S. S., Park, D., Azimi, E., & Hamidi, S. (2025). Urban sprawl, car dependency, and heat-exacerbated health outcomes: Evidence from U.S. counties. Paper accepted for presentation at the 105th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board, Washington, D.C.
Selected Papers based on the 2010 Urban Sprawl Index
Ewing, R., Hamidi, S., & Grace, J. B. (2016). Does urban sprawl hold down upward mobility? Landscape and Urban Planning, 148, 80–88. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016920461500242X
Ewing, R., Hamidi, S., & Meakins, G., & Nelson, A. C. (2014). Relationship between urban sprawl and physical activity, obesity, and morbidity–Update and refinement. Health & Place, 26, 118–126. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2013.12.008
Ewing, R., & Hamidi, S. (2015). Urban sprawl as a risk factor in motor vehicle occupant and pedestrian fatalities: Update and refinement. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2513, 40–47. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.3141/2513-05
Ewing, R., Hamidi, S., & Grace, J. (2016). Compact development and VMT—Environmental determinism, self-selection, or some of both? Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design, 43(4), 737–755. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265813515594811
Granpayeh, T., Bonakdar, A., Zandiatashbar, A., & Hamidi, S. (2019). The quest for creative industries: A multi-level national study of the impacts of urban form on the geography of creative industries. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2673(8), 157–168. https://doi.org/10.1177/0361198119843470
Hamidi, S., & Ewing, R. (2014). A longitudinal study of changes in urban sprawl between 2000 and 2010 in the United States. Landscape and Urban Planning, 128, 72–82. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2014.04.021
Hamidi, S., & Ewing, R. (2015). Is sprawl affordable for Americans? Exploring the association between sprawl and housing affordability. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2500, 75–79. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.3141/2500-09
Hamidi, S., Ewing, R., Preuss, I., & Dodds, A. (2015). Measuring sprawl and its impacts: An update. Journal of Planning Education and Research, 35(1), 35–50. https://doi.org/10.1177/0739456X14565247
Hamidi, S., Ewing, R., & (2020). Compact development and BMI: Environmental determinism or self-selection? Journal of the American Planning Association, 86(3), 349–363. https://doi.org/10.1080/01944363.2020.1730705
Hamidi, S., Ewing, R., Tatalovic, Z., Grace, J., & Berrigan, D. (2018). Associations between urban sprawl and life expectancy in the United States. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 15(5), 861. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15050861
Hamidi, S., Sabouri, S., & Ewing, R. (2020). Does density aggravate the COVID-19 pandemic? Early findings and lessons for planners. Journal of the American Planning Association, 86(4), 495–509. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01944363.2020.1777891
Hamidi, S., (2020). Urban sprawl and the emergence of food deserts in the United States. Urban Studies, 57(8), 1660–1675. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098019841540
Hamidi, S., Zandiatashbar, A. (2021). Compact development and adherence to stay-at-home order during the COVID-19 pandemic: A longitudinal investigation in the United States. Landscape and Urban Planning, 205, 103952. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2020.103952
Hamidi, S., Zandiatashbar, A., Bonakdar, A., (2019). The relationship between regional compactness and regional innovation capacity (RIC): Empirical evidence from a national study. Technological Forecasting & Social Change, 142, 394–402. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2018.07.026
Hamidi, S., Zandiatashbar, A., (2019). Does urban form matter for innovation productivity? A national multi-level study of the association between neighborhood innovation capacity and urban sprawl. Urban Studies, 56(8), 1576–1594. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098018767002
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