From 1990-2000, the four midsize cities of Boise, Victoria, Spokane, and  Eugene grew very differently.

Boise: Greater Boise started smallest but expanded fastest; during the 1990s, its population increased by nearly half. The share of its residents living in compact neighborhoods rose from 3 percent in 1990 to 7 percent in 2000, but in absolute numbers the jump in lower-density housing dwarfed compact growth.

At the time of the last census, only 1 Boise resident in 17 lived in a compact neighborhood, making greater Boise the most sprawling Northwest metropolis (see Boise map).

Victoria: With one in three of its residents living in neighborhoods of at least 12 people per acre, greater Victoria has controlled sprawl better than any other Northwest metropolis except Vancouver.

Among the region's midsize cities, Victoria, BC, occupies the other end of the spectrum (see Victoria map). Greater Victoria has roughly the same population as the Idaho capital but five times as many residents in compact neighborhoods.

Still, even Victoria's success was limited. Outside of a few urban centers, most of its growth was in sprawling neighborhoods. As a result, greater Victoria gained slightly more residents at sprawling densities than in compact neighborhoods over the decade ending in 2001, the time of Canada's last census.

Spokane and Eugene: At close look at the two cities' growth patterns over the decade (see Spokane and Eugene maps) shows substantial differences.

In Spokane, the number of residents in sparsely populated suburbs (areas with between 1 and 5 people per acre) increased by 10,000 over the 1990s. But in Eugene, the number living at such densities actually declined, the result of channeling growth into existing suburbs.

Likewise, greater Spokane's rural outskirts (areas with less than 1 person per acre) grew by 12,000 people, as large-lot housing proliferated.

Over the same period, greater Eugene's rural population held roughly constant. Apparently Oregon's growth management policies, in place since the 1970s, helped limit sprawl's conversion of rural lands while concentrating development in established neighborhoods.

Scorecard sprawl statistics