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Right off the bat I'd say California, hands down. That whole Southern California Metro just sprawls and sprawls for miles. There's downtown L.A., and a few more dense urban areas here and there, but for the most part it's freeways and less dense development all over the place.
Texas also has some pretty bad sprawl, especially in Houston, but nothing so bad. I've heard that Southern Florida around the Miami area also sprawls, but I personally have never been there. I'm not so sure about the other states...
Texas has the most sprawling cities proper, California has the most sprawling metro areas.
California's cities - San Francisco, Oakland, San Diego, even Los Angeles, Sacramento, and San Jose are all more urban and dense in character than Texas' major cities. Within city boundaries Texas cities are far more sprawling and less dense than California cities. BUT California's metro areas sprawl on indefinitely, much more than Texas.
Texas has the most sprawling cities proper, California has the most sprawling metro areas.
California's cities - San Francisco, Oakland, San Diego, even Los Angeles, Sacramento, and San Jose are all more urban and dense in character than Texas' major cities. Within city boundaries Texas cities are far more sprawling and less dense than California cities. BUT California's metro areas sprawl on indefinitely, much more than Texas.
I'm going to suggest Tennessee, so they aren't left out. Their cities aren't as big in population, so they aren't quite large geographically as their larger counterparts in GA and TX, but they are sprawled like crazy. They have some of the longest commutes in the nation. Nashville is a great example.
VA, however, must have the most sprawl with the least amount of dense urban cores to help balance things out. NoVA is just urban sprawl with no true center. Hampton Roads has approx 5 cities, none of which are really true urban cores to the whole area (and this sprawl seems to go forever...and with the tunnels and bridges, it creates some nasty traffic issues).
I can't believe nobody has written about Arizona, that is a state that probably has more sprawl per capita than any other state.
Phoenix alone was built on outward urban expansion, and many people believe that is one of the nation's largest cities that looks like a huge suburban area.
Nearly all of Phoenix's suburban cities encompass a large amount of square miles with sprawling development in massive quantities, with maybe the exception of Tempe.
Tucson is no exception, a smaller version of Phoenix.
Even smaller Arizona cities like Flagstaff, Yuma, and Prescott are in no shortage of sprawling development.
I think the suburban lifestyle is what most people prefer though, that could explain why Arizona and many other western and southern states have seen the greatest population explosion.
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