Looking at exurbia

From the Pocono Record:

The exurbia phenomenon

They have a name for places like ours — the fast-growing communities on the outer fringe, beyond the suburbs of major metropolitan communities, with a growing number of urban commuters:
Exurbia.
…
“People know there are these things called exurbs,” says Alan Berube, one of the authors of the report. “But nobody tried to do a comprehensive listing of what makes an exurb an exurb.”

The report defines exurbs as communities on the outer urban fringe that have at least 20 percent of their workers commuting to jobs in an urbanized area, have lower housing density than the urban-suburban core, and have experienced high population growth during a 15-year period since 1990.

Monroe and Pike counties meet the definition, which has been applied to the 10.8 million people — 6 percent of the national population — who live in 245 U.S. counties.

The report ranks Pike County second in the country in the percentage of residents who commute at least 60 minutes one-way to their jobs. Some 18,643 Pike County residents — 30.6 percent of the county workforce — are “super” or “extreme” commuters.

Park and Pike counties, at the far edges of the Denver and New York metro areas, respectively, have the highest proportions of these ‘super-commuters’ among exurban counties. Exurban commuters also hit the road earlier than other metropolitan workers, with roughly one in seven starting his/her commute before 6 a.m.

Pike County is classified by the federal government as part of the greater New York metro region. Monroe County, on the other hand, has been defined as a separate “micropolitan” area. And Monroe County’s workforce includes both extreme and short-distance commuters.