COMPONENTS OF POPULATION CHANGE IN LARGE METROPOLITAN SUBURBS.

The research reported here represents an attempt to extend this general mode of analysis to the larger incorporated suburban places lying within the rings of the largest metropolitan cities, and to determine the components of population change in two functional types of suburb "employing" and "residential" suburbs. Employing suburbs are functionally similar to metropolitan central cities in that they are "attracting" areas, drawing large numbers of workers to them every day. In contrast, residential suburbs are "dispersing" areas, sending their residents to work in other parts of the metropolitan area. Prior research indicates rather clearly that the aggregate growth of residential suburbs during the last two decades was well beyond that of employing suburbs. Moreover, this overall differential in favor of residential suburbs tended to persist when other relevant variables were controlled, and was interpreted as primarily the result of different patterns of migration. Thus the research reported here is essentially an addendum to the writer's previous study of suburban growth differentials according to functional type.