Urban Land Use Efficiency in the United States: Assessing UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals

Urban expansion has intensified concerns regarding land use efficiency and sustainable urban development worldwide. Despite growing global application of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Indicator 11.3.1, comprehensive assessments within the United States (U.S.) remain limited. This study evaluates urban land use efficiency in the contiguous U.S. between 2000 and 2020 by examining the relationship between land consumption and population growth using the ‘Land Consumption Rate to Population Growth Rate’ (LCRPGR) framework. Urban land expansion and population change were derived from integrating impervious surface data with gridded population estimates, respectively, and the indicator was calculated for 2229 urban areas to evaluate temporal and regional patterns. Results show that urban land area increased by 23% over the study period, while population grew by 31%, indicating an overall shift toward denser urban development. The median LCRPGR declined from 0.84 during 2000–2010 to 0.63 during 2010–2020, reflecting improvements in land use efficiency, although notable regional disparities remain. Cluster analysis reveals distinct spatial growth patterns, with older metropolitan areas and western cities generally exhibiting more compact development. Findings demonstrate the applicability of SDG Indicator 11.3.1 for evaluating urban land use efficiency in a U.S. context and highlight the importance of coordinated spatial planning and policy measures to support sustainable urbanization.