<P> The urbanization of the United States has progressed throughout its entire history . Over the last two centuries , the United States of America has been transformed from a predominantly rural , agricultural nation into an urbanized , industrial one . This was largely due to the Industrial Revolution in the United States ( and parts of Western Europe ) in the late 18th and early 19th centuries and the rapid industrialization which the United States experienced as a result . In 1790 , only about one out of every twenty Americans ( on average ) lived in urban areas ( cities ) , but this ratio had dramatically changed to one out of four by 1870 , one out of two by 1920 , two out of three in the 1960s , and four out of five in the 2000s . </P>
when did the us become more urban than rural
in the late 18th and early 19th centuries