Table 1. A scale of urbaness based on landscape attributes ranging from the wilderness (0) to the city (5).

Land use category  
Urban scale
  
Natural attributes
  
Most local government authority
  
Distance from major city (km)
  
Relative municipal infrastructure cost†
  
Population density
  
People/urban ha
Wilderness (encampment)  
0
  
high
  
Nation or state
  
> 150
  
0
  
Very low
  
N/A
Frontier (settlement)  
1
  
High
  
Nation or state
  
80 to > 160
  
< 0.2
  
Very low
  
< 10
Rural(farm, small town)  
2
  
Moderate
  
County or town
  
> 80
  
0.2–1.0
  
Low
  
30
Metropolitan fringe (farms, suburbs)  
3
  
Low to moderate
  
County, village, town or city
  
15 to 80
  
< 0.2–1.6
  
Low
  
10–30
Infill suburbs (high-density suburbs)  
4
  
Low
  
Town or city
  
1–30
  
1.1–1.6
  
High
  
6–30
City (small cities, megalopolis)  
5
  
Low
  
City
  
0
  
0.5–1.5
  
High
  
> 30

†Values represent the estimated cost of the infrastructure per tax dollar, e.g., a value of 1.6 means that, for every dollar collected in taxes, $1.60 is needed to provide the services people require. Values greater than 1.0 are very common in modern suburbs.