Russel Sage Foundation

During the 1970s, several striking population shifts attracted widespread attention and colorful journalistic labels. Urban gentrification, the rural renaissance, the rise of the Sunbelt—these phenomena signaled major reversals in long-term patterns of population distribution. In Regional and Metropolitan Growth and Decline in the United States, authors Frey and Speare place such reversals in context by examining a rich array of census data.

This comprehensive study describes new population distribution patterns, explores their consequences, and evaluates competing explanations of current trends. The authors also provide an in-depth look at the changing race, status, and household demographics of the nation's largest cities and discuss the broad societal forces precipitating such changes. Frey and Speare conclude that the 1970s represented a "transition decade" in the history of population distribution and that patterns now emerging do not suggest a return to the past.

With impressive scope and detail, this volume offers an unmatched picture of regional growth and decline across the United States.

WILLIAM H. FREY is faculty associate at the Population Studies Center, The University of Michigan.

ALDEN SPEARE, JR. is professor of sociology at Brown University.

A volume in the Population of the United States in the 1980s series.

A Volume in the RSF Census Series