The hustle and bustle that gives large, densely-populated cities their character-with large numbers of people from many different places constantly crossing paths and crowding together-also creates the conditions for widespread transmission of viruses like COVID-19. One question now, however, is whether COVID-19 will slow down or reverse that pattern. While many rural areas stagnate or decline, urban areas continue to attract jobs and capital investment. With increasingly divergent economic prospects in urban and rural America, there is good reason to believe that the trend toward city living could continue. In 2010, the share of Americans living in urban areas surpassed 80 percent for the first time. Today, the split of urban and rural Americans looks almost inverted compared to the population distribution of more than two centuries ago. In recent years, trends have pointed toward re-urbanization, with more people leaving the suburbs to return to cities, attracted by the amenities and economic opportunities available in urban centers. As urban areas continued to grow, the post-World War II era also led to heavy growth in suburban areas, with a population boom driven by new births and a building boom driven by mass production techniques that lowered the cost of homeownership. The onset of the Industrial Revolution in the early- to mid-1800s sparked rapid urbanization as more people left the farms for industrial jobs in growing cities. was a predominantly agrarian, rural society, with only about one in 20 residents living in urban areas. The story of American history is inextricably intertwined with the story of urbanization.
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