Commuter town

A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential. It has many homes but lacks many commercial or industrial centers. Most people living there travel to a nearby city for their jobs. This daily trip is called commuting. Because people mainly sleep there, these places have many nicknames. In Canada and the northeastern United States, they are called "bedroom communities." In the United Kingdom, they are often called "dormitory towns."

Several factors can cause a commuter town to form. Often, workers cannot afford to live where they work. They seek residency in other towns with a lower cost of living. In California, the dot-com bubble and the housing bubble drove costs to historic highs. This forced workers in San Francisco to move to cities like Oakland, Burlingame, or San Mateo. In Tracy, California, over 80% of the workforce was employed in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Economic changes can also transform a town's identity. Steubenville, Ohio, and Weirton, West Virginia, once had independent regional identities. However, the steel industry collapsed in the 1980s. New roads like Steubenville Pike provided easier access to Pittsburgh. By 2013, Jefferson County, Ohio, was added to the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. This shows how changing industries can link towns to larger cities.

Transportation methods change how these towns are built. In the United Kingdom, railway companies helped create commuter towns to increase demand for their lines. In the 1920s, the Metropolitan Railway marketed "Metro-land" developments. This encouraged people to move from central London to suburbs like Harrow or villages in Buckinghamshire. In Japan, private railroads view real estate as a central part of their business. They develop new residential areas alongside their tracks and adjust schedules for convenience.

North American commuter towns are different because they rely almost exclusively on cars. This differs from the rail-focused models in Japan and the UK. Sometimes, towns are built before they have enough roads or trains. This leads to the development of new highways or light rail lines. These systems help the community become part of a larger conurbation, which is a cluster of cities and towns.

Living in a commuter town has many social and economic effects. If commuters are wealthy, they may raise local housing prices. This process is similar to gentrification and can displace long-time residents. In the United States, these towns often face tax issues. Because they have few businesses, they collect very little business tax. This means residents must pay higher property or income taxes to fund the town.

There are also impacts on personal wellbeing. A 2014 study by the British Office for National Statistics looked at commuters. It found that people who commute are more likely to feel anxious or dissatisfied. They may feel their daily activities lack meaning, even if they earn more money. These findings show that the daily journey to work affects more than just travel time.

Finally, we can look at the concept of the exurb. The term was coined by Auguste Comte Spectorsky in 1955. He used it to describe prosperous communities beyond the suburbs. Since 2006, a report by the Brookings Institution has used the term differently. Now, an exurb is an area beyond the suburbs that is less densely built. These areas often have large homes and depend heavily on motor vehicles. In Oregon, unique land use laws have used urban growth boundaries to manage this growth. These laws help protect agricultural and timber lands from urban sprawl.