Mapping workplace-based greenhouse gas emissions and urban form across U.S. counties, highlighting high-emitting metropolitan areas

This study maps county-level workplace-based greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the contiguous United States and examines how emission concentrations align with development intensity and commute vehicle miles traveled (VMT) per worker. Using the Smart Location Database (SLD) and the National Land Cover Database (NLCD), we combine an emissions-weighted cartogram with a 3 × 3 bivariate (tercile) classification of development intensity and commute VMT. Emissions are unevenly distributed, and high-emitting counties span diverse development–VMT configurations. Among the 15 highest-emitting metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), counties in coastal MSAs tend to be more development-intensive, while counties in inland MSAs more often pair high VMT with low intensity. This heterogeneity may help explain why empirical evidence on compactness and emissions remains mixed, underscoring the need for context-sensitive planning and cautioning against one-size-fits-all assumptions.