Mexico vs United States: Do more people live in urban or rural areas?
Mexico
80.0%
in 2025
United States
80.2%
in 2025
Mexico rank
70th
United States rank
69th
Do more people live in urban or rural areas? over time
- Mexico
- United States
How they compare
United States currently reports 80.2% against 80.0% in Mexico, a difference of 0.2%.
The two have swapped places 2 times across 108 shared years of data; in 1000 it was United States ahead.
Mexico ranks 70th and United States ranks 69th of 238 countries.
Across the 40 decades both report, Mexico averaged higher in 1 and United States in 39.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | Mexico | United States | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1000s | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | United States |
| 1100s | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | United States |
| 1200s | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | United States |
| 1300s | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | United States |
| 1400s | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.0% | United States |
| 1500s | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.0% | United States |
| 1600s | 0.5% | 0.7% | 0.1% | United States |
| 1700s | 1.6% | 2.0% | 0.4% | United States |
| 1710s | 1.7% | 2.0% | 0.3% | United States |
| 1720s | 2.0% | 2.2% | 0.3% | United States |
| 1730s | 2.2% | 2.5% | 0.3% | United States |
| 1740s | 2.6% | 2.8% | 0.3% | United States |
| 1750s | 2.9% | 3.2% | 0.3% | United States |
| 1760s | 3.3% | 3.6% | 0.2% | United States |
| 1770s | 3.8% | 4.0% | 0.2% | United States |
| 1780s | 4.4% | 4.5% | 0.2% | United States |
| 1790s | 5.0% | 5.1% | 0.1% | United States |
| 1800s | 5.7% | 6.1% | 0.4% | United States |
| 1810s | 6.5% | 7.3% | 0.8% | United States |
| 1820s | 7.4% | 7.2% | 0.2% | Mexico |
| 1830s | 8.5% | 8.8% | 0.3% | United States |
| 1840s | 9.7% | 10.8% | 1.1% | United States |
| 1850s | 11.1% | 15.3% | 4.2% | United States |
| 1860s | 12.7% | 19.8% | 7.1% | United States |
| 1870s | 14.5% | 25.7% | 11.2% | United States |
| 1880s | 16.6% | 28.2% | 11.6% | United States |
| 1890s | 19.0% | 35.1% | 16.1% | United States |
| 1900s | 21.7% | 39.6% | 17.9% | United States |
| 1910s | 24.8% | 45.6% | 20.8% | United States |
| 1920s | 28.3% | 51.2% | 22.9% | United States |
| 1930s | 32.3% | 56.2% | 23.9% | United States |
| 1940s | 37.0% | 60.0% | 23.0% | United States |
| 1950s | 46.3% | 66.9% | 20.6% | United States |
| 1960s | 54.5% | 71.9% | 17.4% | United States |
| 1970s | 62.5% | 73.6% | 11.2% | United States |
| 1980s | 68.8% | 74.3% | 5.5% | United States |
| 1990s | 73.1% | 77.0% | 3.9% | United States |
| 2000s | 76.1% | 80.0% | 3.9% | United States |
| 2010s | 77.2% | 80.5% | 3.3% | United States |
| 2020s | 79.3% | 80.1% | 0.7% | United States |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher do more people live in urban or rural areas?, Mexico or United States?
- United States, at 80.2% against 80.0% in Mexico as of 2025.
- What is the difference in do more people live in urban or rural areas? between Mexico and United States?
- 0.2%, with United States ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for Mexico and United States?
- 108 years are reported by both, from 1000 to 2025.
- How do Mexico and United States rank globally for do more people live in urban or rural areas??
- Mexico ranks 70th and United States ranks 69th of 238 countries.
- Where does this data come from?
- HYDE (2023); United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data, published as Do more people live in urban or rural areas?. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.
Individual pages
About this data
Share of the population living in urban areas, combining UN estimates with modeled historical data.