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The twin processes of population concentration and deconcentration, working at the regional, metropolitan-nonmetropolitan and local levels, have defined the redistribution of the American people in the twentieth century. Over most of this period, there was a massive concentration of population into cities, with a multiplication of places as urbanization spread and larger centers captured ever greater numbers. Although growth generally was at the periphery of such places, with the widespread use of the automobile there was in addition a spread of population into formerly rural nearby areas. The recognition of this led to the adoption of the metropolitan area concept in 1950, and on this basis one may generalize that at least until 1970 the twentieth century settlement process could be described as concentration into metropolitan areas and deconcentration within these areas. The analysis of population redistribution by size of place within nonmetropolitan areas has shown that since the 1950s patterns of growth have supported a more deconcentrated settlement pattern.