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Location: That star on your map in the middle of the East Coast, DMV
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So in the DC metro I would say south of Woodbridge/ Dale City/ Dumfries begins the exurbs. Those places are maybe 25-30 miles south of the District. Stafford and Fredericksburg (almost 50 miles away) are exurbs that grew into being part of the metro region. In MD I would say going NW from town once you get to Frederick, MD that is more of an exurb than suburb.
So in the DC metro I would say south of Woodbridge/ Dale City/ Dumfries begins the exurbs. Those places are maybe 25-30 miles south of the District. Stafford and Fredericksburg (almost 50 miles away) are exurbs that grew into being part of the metro region. In MD I would say going NW from town once you get to Frederick, MD that is more of an exurb than suburb.
I'd be willing to go Arlington, Alexandria and all of Fairfax, PG and Montgomery counties.
I'd be willing to go Arlington, Alexandria and all of Fairfax, PG and Montgomery counties.
Woodbridge and Dale City are too highly-populated, too close to major job centers and have too much retail (Potomac Mills alone is somewhat of a job center, but its no Tysons or Reston) to really be considered true exurbs. The Stafford area between Quantico and Fredericksburg would certainly qualify. Loudoun is straddling that fine line between suburban and exurban. Ashburn is suburban and is adjacent to major employment centers like Dulles Airport, Reston or Sterling, and its crossed the threshold from exurban to suburban over the last decade. On the other hand, Leesburg is...way...out...there.
I'm still trying to figure out if Waldorf (In Charles County, Maryland) is a suburb or an outright exurb. It has a lot of retail and lots of suburban communities, but since there aren't any major employment centers nearby, most people who live there have to commute into DC or Northern Virginia for work. If it had better freeway connections and public transit connections to DC, it would probably be just as populated as Woodbridge on the other side of the Potomac. I'd definitely consider Calvert County an exurb.
Anne Arundel is another weird animal because you have Annapolis as a government center, but there are exurbs of Baltimore and DC there like Crofton and Odenton.
The Woodlands in Houston could be considered an exurb, but has grown to become a major employment center in its own right over the last decade as many corporations have opened offices there.
Palmdale/Lancaster or Victorville/Apple Valley outside Los Angeles are definitely exurban areas. Temecula/Murietta are exurban areas of San Diego.
In Atlanta, you have Cumming, Gainesville, Covington, Cartersville, Peachtree City, and Villa Rica that could be considered exurbs.
Location: That star on your map in the middle of the East Coast, DMV
8,128 posts, read 7,547,924 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by biscuit_head
Woodbridge and Dale City are too highly-populated, too close to major job centers and have too much retail (Potomac Mills alone is somewhat of a job center, but its no Tysons or Reston) to really be considered true exurbs. The Stafford area between Quantico and Fredericksburg would certainly qualify. Loudoun is straddling that fine line between suburban and exurban. Ashburn is suburban and is adjacent to major employment centers like Dulles Airport, Reston or Sterling, and its crossed the threshold from exurban to suburban over the last decade. On the other hand, Leesburg is...way...out...there.
I'm still trying to figure out if Waldorf (In Charles County, Maryland) is a suburb or an outright exurb. It has a lot of retail and lots of suburban communities, but since there aren't any major employment centers nearby, most people who live there have to commute into DC or Northern Virginia for work. If it had better freeway connections and public transit connections to DC, it would probably be just as populated as Woodbridge on the other side of the Potomac. I'd definitely consider Calvert County an exurb.
Anne Arundel is another weird animal because you have Annapolis as a government center, but there are exurbs of Baltimore and DC there like Crofton and Odenton.
The Woodlands in Houston could be considered an exurb, but has grown to become a major employment center in its own right over the last decade as many corporations have opened offices there.
Palmdale/Lancaster or Victorville/Apple Valley outside Los Angeles are definitely exurban areas. Temecula/Murietta are exurban areas of San Diego.
In Atlanta, you have Cumming, Gainesville, Covington, Cartersville, Peachtree City, and Villa Rica that could be considered exurbs.
Yes Woodbridge, Dale City etc are full blown suburbs of DC not exurbs. Once you get to Stafford and definitely Fredericksburg those are exurbs however growing more and more populated and congested too.
In Maryland it's more tricky obviously because there are Baltimore suburbs running behind DC suburbs. Crofton is honestly like an extension of Bowie almost, where as Odenton is just south of Arundel Mills and BWI.
Yes Woodbridge, Dale City etc are full blown suburbs of DC not exurbs. Once you get to Stafford and definitely Fredericksburg those are exurbs however growing more and more populated and congested too.
In Maryland it's more tricky obviously because there are Baltimore suburbs running behind DC suburbs. Crofton is honestly like an extension of Bowie almost, where as Odenton is just south of Arundel Mills and BWI.
Suburb versus exurb doesn't simply come down to population density and development. You're talking about places that are 45 minutes away in LIGHT traffic. Looking further down the state, that's basically the time it takes to drive from Williamsburg to Richmond.
Suburb versus exurb doesn't simply come down to population density and development. You're talking about places that are 45 minutes away in LIGHT traffic. Looking further down the state, that's basically the time it takes to drive from Williamsburg to Richmond.
Isn't Williamsburg (or at least the surrounding areas in York and James City Counties) considered an exurb of Richmond and/or Norfolk nowadays?
Obviously any definition is subjective. That said, I tend to define it the following way. Suburbs are the areas which are either within the same county as the core municipality or (if the city is independent like Saint Louis, or on a county line like Detroit) the immediately adjacent county. Exurbs are in counties which border the "core suburban" counties.
Obviously these definitions are not perfect. For example, under such a definition Chester County in Southeastern Pennsylvania would be exurban. In truth some areas (Berwyn, Paoli, Malvern, etc) have been railroad suburbs for around a century. I do think it's fair to say the county as a whole is exurban though.
Obviously any definition is subjective. That said, I tend to define it the following way. Suburbs are the areas which are either within the same county as the core municipality or (if the city is independent like Saint Louis, or on a county line like Detroit) the immediately adjacent county. Exurbs are in counties which border the "core suburban" counties.
Obviously these definitions are not perfect. For example, under such a definition Chester County in Southeastern Pennsylvania would be exurban. In truth some areas (Berwyn, Paoli, Malvern, etc) have been railroad suburbs for around a century. I do think it's fair to say the county as a whole is exurban though.
I think when you have a sizable population that works in the suburban office parks, as opposed to the course city, it becomes an exurb. I just don't know where the cut off is.
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